


My OCs ~ Hunger Games Au

by HenryIsAMonster



Category: The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2020-12-31 19:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21150899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HenryIsAMonster/pseuds/HenryIsAMonster
Summary: Me and my friend have a deep lore full of OCs, and I thought it would be fun to make a hunger games AU with them





	1. Bloodbath / Day 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [watermeloncaprisun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/watermeloncaprisun/gifts).

Alex's heart was racing. He felt like it was in his chest. His breathing became erratic and his eyes swelled up with tears. After stepping into the glass cylinder, the curved doors slid around him and collided in the centre, to close him in, before the platform he was stood on began to rise. Alex looked up and pressed his hands against the cool glass surrounding him. The metal circle he was rising towards, above the cylindrical elevator, slid to the left and Alex was met with heavy rain.  
He became level with the rest of the podium, above ground, and was blinded by the plain white sky. He squinted, holding his arm above his eyes. His hair quickly became drenched with the pouring rain, luckily he had been given a rain coat by his stylist just moments ago, he put the hood up and looked round, frantically.  
From the look of things, the arena was a forest. In the distance there was a mountain, the top of which was smothered in clouds. The trees of the forest were colossal, and despite the cornucopia and the semi circle of tributes being on what appeared to be a hill, the foot of which remained unseen and smothered by trees, they still towered over the tributes and the giant, weapon filled horn in the centre. Alex's eyes darted between the bags of resources scattered outside of the cornucopia, and the piles of weapon filled boxes on the inside. The large orange countdown above the horn changed to 30, and quickly after that: 29.  
Panicked, Alex looks to his right, to see who his potential murderer would be, it was Fran - the girl from district 6. From what he could remember, she was 18, and a huge threat. She was tall, and intimidating, and had gotten a high score in the training evaluation. Fidgeting with his hands, he looked to his left. He isn't sure, but thinks her name is Elie. Shes a little younger than him, but has a talent with throwing knives. Shes from district 5, and had made friends with a girl from another district during the training period prior to the games. Both of these people could kill him easily.  
Across from him, on the other side of the semi circle of tributes surrounding the opening of the cornucopia, and through the blinding visage of rain, he sees Ben. Ben, the boy from district 5, had been friendly to just about everyone in the two weeks training before the games. In the interview on Caeser Flickerman's show, he had worn had a purple suit, which had made him look great, and the crowd had seemed to love him. As well as this, Ben had offered to help Alex differentiating poison berries from edible ones; As well as this, Ben had went through survival tips with Alex, which was a huge help, considering Alex would probably have died in the first day, especially in the torrential rain. He also remembered Ben-  
The timer hit 10, and he realised how little time he had left.  
Alex glanced at a bag, not too far from him, but realised that either Fran or Elie would be more than willing to kill him for it. He turned around and looked into the dense forest that followed the edge of the steep hill. The timer was getting lower and a part of Alex wished that if he was going to die, which was more than likely, that he would at least get a quick death, and by someone who would do good with their victory. Unfortunately this was less than likely.  
The last pulse of the timer sounded and, as expected, chaos ensued. Fran and Elie darted off of their podiums, into the centre. The sound of 48 legs hitting wet mud as well as the cacophony of rain hitting the hollow metal horn in the centre of the clearing created a symphony, which alex would remember as a horrific noise for the rest of his, potentially short, life.  
He, himself, stumbled off of the podium away from the middle. His foot landed in a puddle of mud swamped with water, and he did his best to pull it away. As the blood pumped through his veins and adrenaline took over, he darted towards the forest line.  
Alex reached the end of the clearing and stared down the steep, and slippery, hill before him. He turned around and sees the large group of murderous teenagers collide with one another. Engaging in the brawl wasn't exactly appealing to Alex, and so he charged down the hill. He tries to skid down the hill, slamming one foot into the mood followed by another, in a motion like ice skating- but at an angle. He started to slide towards a tree, at a fast pace too, he missteps in order to get around, but in doing so lost his balance. Alex's body is flung backwards and he started to tumble down the slope, grunting as his body is thrown down the slope, like a ragdoll. Inevitably, he heads for a tree, sticking up out of the slope like a horn. Alex's head strikes the tree, a harsh blow to the forehead, and his motionless body lands at the bottom of slope, hidden away by a bush.  
*  
Sasha Rosenberg, the female tribute from district 11, stands upon her podium with confidence. Externally, of course. Internally, her mind is racing with paranoia and anxiety. The countdown seems to last for an eternity. She gets herself ready to run to the centre - she wants a bag or something , at least that would mean she has something to keep her going. Readying herself, and with less than thirty seconds to go, she looks over to her right. The Male tribute from district 6 is stood there, in a running position and apparently ready to head for the centre. She thinks back to his interview with Caeser and remembers that Reuben had seemingly driven thr crowd wild - he had fit right in with the Capitol. Reuben had come onto the stage wearing a pink tuxedo, with a floral patterned shirt and matching pink and glittering makeup. He had sequins and glitter across his cheeks and eyeshadow expertly placed on his eyelids. He would doubtlessly get dozens of sponsors. If he makes it out of the bloodbath, that is.  
She turns to her left and sees the worst tribute she could have hoped for stood next to her. Brad. The tribute from district 1. To begin with, he was career, meaning he and the tributes from 1, 2 and 4 would most likely gang up on the rest of them. The careers were usually the victors of the games. He had gotten an 11 ranking in the training and was not a force to be reckoned with.  
Sasha turns her attention to the countdown, and with only a few seconds left, she had came to the conclusion that she would attempt to grab the bag not too far infront of her.  
When the countdown finishes, she runs forward, slipping slightly on the mud infront of her. Reuben and Brad had had similar ideas, and both went for the bag. Reuben was swift, and picked up the bag, as well as a knife which was laying somewhere near it. Sasha slowed down. Brad shoved Reuben over relentlessly. He skidded in the mud, still clutching the bag and the knife. Reuben whipped around and held his knife at Brad, who froze. The two stood in a standoff for a few seconds, before Reuben darted off towards the forest.  
Maybe it was best that Sasha didnt go any further.  
She backed up, as Brad caught a glimpse of her and turned. She didnt want to encounter Brad, as it would be a pretty futile battle. She runs to the edge of the clearing, slowing down as she reaches the forest line. Frantically, she peers over the edge and sees the steep bank to the forest. Panicked, she looks to her right and sees Reuben peeling off a peice of bark from the tree next to him. It was about the width of a podium, so could fit him on. He puts it on the floor and sits on it, before sliding down the slope and out of sight among the flora.  
Sasha turns around and sees the anarchy occuring. She realises she does not have time to mimicking reubens admittedly smart idea, and decides to conquer the slope on her own. She embarks on her mission and starts running down- a bit slippery at first but she gets the hang of it. Dodging trees and rocks, she is eventually tripped over by a shallow hole in the floor, in which her foot is caught in. She tumbles down the slope, dangerously, but gains her balance at the bottom of the slope and starts running into the forest. 

Blossom knew she had to get her hands on a weapon. She cracked her knuckles and her neck. Looking round, she is in the ideal place to enter the cornucopia. The entrance of the oversized horn was facing her, as well as the two tributes next to her, but she didnt have time to get distracted. After all, she had been training her life for this. With only seconds left on the clock, she gets herself ready to run to the middle. After creating her plan in her head, she had a few seconds to spare in between planning where she would go and rationalising the situation in her head. She quickly looks from the left to the right and sees Mercury on one side, her career peer from district 2, and on her right, ivory, some district 9 guy who wouldnt stand a chance winning.  
She forces her eyes back at the cornucopia, growing angry at herself for allowing herself to be distracted. Blossom had all the possibilities planned out, she had assessed all of her career teammates, and picked out her most significant competition from the other tributes. Blossom knew all of their strengths and weaknesses from observing them in the training. She didnt need to practise with weapons shed spent the last eighteen years of her life mastering, she could afford to waste at least a little time with her competitors. One thing she had learned, was that some of the tributes were genuine nice people, which meant killing them would be a little bit harder than normal. One of the kinder tributes, Ben, was at the edge of the semi circle, and had probably been the kindest.  
Once again, blossom had gotten distracted. The countdown seemed to last forever, which is what she had been told by all of the past Victor's from district 1. But, finally, the countdown struck 1. When the final pulse sounded, blossom sped forward, her feet forcing themselves in and out of the wet mud she was forced to run on. Two tributes, she doesnt know who, she can't get distracted, block her way with their own fighting. She runs towards them and skids underneath their brawl, sliding into the cool metal floor of the cornucopia. She starts rifling through the weapons but, apparently, one of the fighting tributes had noticed her, and she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist, and throw her deeper into the horn. Blossom collided with the floor, wincing in pain, but noticed a crossbow lying on the floor beside her, wedged between two boxes of resources.  
She frantically arms the crossbow, pointing it up at her attacker. It was Luke, from district 12. The crossbow scope aligns with her right eye, and she points it at Luke's head. He was a tall boy, slender and surprisingly strong, as demonstrated by her bring thrown at the floor, and all. Luke stares down at her on the floor, a spear in hand, he laughs, and Blossom knows why:  
Just over a week ago, in training, the tributes were required to practise on the crossbow target range, which involved holograms on moving targets to surround you. The objective was to shoot them with the crossbow. The tributes had lined up, and Blossom was close to the back of the queue, despite being district 1. Behind her, was Luke, with his other district 12 tribute, Anna. Anna didnt seem to care for Luke, as it seemed, but both of them observed Blossom as she practised. Blossom was well aware of the eyes on her and she aimed the crossbow at a target, and missed. Luke, of course, had laughed at Blossom, and teased her about missing the shot.  
Now, in the cornucopia, she aimed the crossbow at his head, and hoped she didnt miss.  
"Dont kid yourself, princess." Luke taunted, "We both know you couldnt shoot a mammoth with that thing,"  
Blossom pulled the trigger and the crossbow bolt flew through the air, landing in between Luke's eyes. He fell to the floor instantly, and blood had started to spread around him.  
Blossom began to get up, and notices her career teammate Aubrey enter the cornucopia. She is however, shoved past by a small girl, Asian and with silver dyed hair - Olive. She darts through the cornucopia and equips herself with a bag, sword, and shield.  
Aubrey, axe in hand, swings at Olive, who promptly blocks the blow with her shield. She shoves Aubrey against the wall with her shield, causing a grunt of pain by Aubrey, before leaving as quickly as she had came in. Aubrey helps Blossom up, and they acknowledge each other with a nod. She too leave the cornucopia to defend the rest of their supplies. Some other people had rushed into the cornucopia, she hadnt seen who, but Aubrey hadnt attacked them so she assumed they were allies. Blossom peers around the side of the cornucopia, and noticed someone cowering behind it.  
She armed her crossbow and looked at her potential next victim. It was Ben. He was hiding behind the side of the giant metal horn and made eye contact with Blossom. He looked horrified. The two looked at each other for what seemed like hours. Blossom remembered how he had offered her help with survival tips, which seemed to he his forte. He had been kind, and made jokes, and treated her as if she wasnt going to end up killing him. So she made the decision not to. She brought her finger to her mouth in a hushed motion, and he nodded, thankful.  
Returning to the entrance on the cornucopia, she noticed Aubrey with the rest of her career "friends". Brad stood by Aubrey and had seemed to have picked up some weights of some sort. The two were looking at Mercury, who was scuffling with Randy. Randy fell backwards, dropping the bag he was holding, before slipping away into the Forest. Mercury regrouped, along with Cass and David from inside the cornucopia. 

Fran seized the opportunity. As she set off from her podium, colliding with the wet ground, Rueben and Brad, tributes from a few podiums away, were fighting over a bag. Not too far away from them, a staff was propped up against the cornucopia. Not exactly a deadly weapon but she could use it for her own defenses. Fran darted past the fight between the two tributes, and noticed Elie running for the same thing. Fran, being the taller and older woman, got to the staff first. She whipped around and sees Elie settling for a bag, in which she apparently finds knives inside. Elie and Fran exchange glances, as there is a sleeping bag between them. The two looked at the bag and then each other, before running towards it. Elie throws a knife at Fran, but Fran slides in the mud to her knees, skidding in the mud and obtaining the bag. Elie skids to a halt, but Fran uses her staff and swings it towards Elies legs. Elie slips over, her head colliding with the ground, which would normally be a good thing if the floor wasnt a swamp at the moment. The younger girl got up, quickly, and runs to the edge of the clearing. She jumps to a tree, and then to the next tree after that.  
Fran concludes that there must be a steep bank or an opening kn the ground in which Elie had tried to avoid.  
Frantically, Fran looks around and sees Randy running from something on the other side of the clearing. He reaches the end of the clearing and starts running down whatever is there.  
Due to the rain and general slippiness of the ground, Randy couldnt survive long running at that speed down that hill.  
Once again seizing the opportunity, Fran sprints towards where Randy had descended, after slotting her staff in between her back and her sleeping bag, strapped behind her. She gets to the edge of the centre of the arena, and peers over. As she does, Randy stumbles down the slope and lands face down at the bottom. Already soaked with the mud from sliding towards the sleeping bag, she does not care about mess, and sits on the floor, sliding herself down the steep and soaking hill.  
Fran lands on her feet, and finds Randy lying on the ground. He makes some groaning noises and begins to get up. Panicked, Fran looks around, and finds a small, thick, log on the group beside him. She wraps her hand around it and picks it up in her right hand. She swings her right arm with all her strength and smacks Randy on the back of the head with it.  
Once again, he falls fo the floor, motionless. To double check. Fran checks his pulse by pushing her fingertips to his neck. She cant feel anything. To make sure he is DEFINITELY going to die, she drags his body to a puddle and dunks his head into it. This way, he could drown while unconscious.  
Fran looks around her and concludes she is alone. With confirmation that she is safe, she darts into the forest.

Dominic scooped up a backpack as he sprints through the swamp they had been dumped on. He flings it around his arms and onto his back. He doesn't have time to check what was in it, so he decides to run into the forest on the side opposite to the side of the clearing facing the mountain. The chaos around him spirals and he cannot keep track of who is who.  
After beginning his run, he stumbled to a halt. Ivory was stood between two podiums wielding a long sword. Dominic remembers Ivory from training, as he had stood out to him. Ivory, from district 9, had been adviced by the past victors of district 9, to accompany Lyra, the younger girl from his district, around the training area. He had not been happy with this request, and had treated Lyra with disgust and general unkindness. Teasing her about, as soon as they got in that arena, how he was going to slaughter her. Many people had observed this, some even going as far as to defend Lyra, as she was only a child, after all. If he remembered correctly, he, Ben and Quinn, from district 8, had stood for Lyra, telling Ivory to leave her alone and such. Ivory had responded by calling Ben and Dominic gay slurs, and Quinn and Dominic racist slurs about an Asian person. Nobody was impressed. Ben and Lyra had seemed to become friends after that, perhaps even forming an alliance. Dominic had assumed the bullying was a defense mechanism for the Games, but it was no excuse to traumatise Lyra - not that it would matter, he thought, fatalistically, they were going to be pretty traumatised by the games anyway.  
Dominic decided to go another direction than where Ivory was evidentially guarding, the 18 year old was slightly taller than Dominic, and quite alot stronger. And dominic didnt have a weapon.  
Once again, dominic set off running. Ivory noticed this, however, and jumped over a podium to get closer to Dominic. Dom turned to him, as he swung his long sword down on him. Dominic jumped backwards and Ivory kicked outwards, landing his boot firmly into Dominic's stomach. Dominic fell backwards, landing on the base of one of the podium. He looked up in time to react to another swing of the long sword. Dominic rolled along and the sword collided with the podium. Dominic looked back up at Ivory and saw a staff attached to his back, with a blade on either side. That wasnt important right now, as Ivory slammed his foot onto Dominic's ankle, pushing it down. He yelled out in pain, afraid that Ivory would break his ankle.  
From above him, someone had leapt over the podium dominic was lying on, and slammed their body into Ivory.  
Ivory toppled behind him, almost hitting his head on the podium adjacent to Doninics. The mystery hero was Quinn, her hair tied in two tight black buns behind her head, and she appeared to be weapon less. Quinn kicked Ivory in the stomach, causing him to hunch over and drop his sword. She quickly disattatched the dual wielding sword from Ivorys back and turned to help Doninic up wit her free hand.  
The two exchanged a nod before Quinn dashed towards the edge of the clearing. 

Cowering behind the cornucopia, and constantly on the lookout for tributes, Ben waiting for Lyra. He had a bag, strapped to his back, and wasnt sure what was in it. The two had discussed meeting behind the cornucopia before embarking on their journey, as they had predicted that the careers would be at the front. He couldn't see lyra in the chaos whatsoever. He started to panic - where was she? Was she dead? God he hoped not.  
He peered around the edge of the horn to see if Lyra had misinterpreted their plans. Instead he saw Blossom, the district 1 tribute, holding a crossbow in his direction. She seemed to be the nicest of the careers. Brad seemed arrogant and that would probably get him killed. Aubrey was in the same boat, despite her skill with an axe, she was big headed and overestimated herself. David scared Ben, despite bring a few years younger than him, due to his ferociousness and apathy. Mercury was even scarier, he was tall, muscular, a warrior. Ben and Cass had gotten along for the most part, but he wasnt sure. Blossom lowered her crossbow slightly as they made eye contact. She shushed him with an action and he nodded. He was glad she had shown him mercy, only she or Cass would do that for him, out of the careers.  
He whipped around and looked over to the stragglers surrounding the cornucopia. Zach, the boy from 10, clawed himself up using a spear, after apparently falling on his escape from the clearing. He reached the forest line and was using the spear as a hiking stick to descend past Ben's line of sight.  
Anna makes for the edge of the the flat topped hill and sped down she looked like shed had a bag of something. Ben quickly looked around, searching the remaining few tributes for lyras familiar face.  
At last he found her. She looked panicked, as any 12 year old would in this situation. She tries to descend the slope but she seems to spin out of sight, and Ben thinks the worse. A tall boy follows her, and Ben knows it's over. He had no allies. The boy, Atlas, didnt seem the type to finish her off, as it were, but he probably wasnt going to help her.  
Ben feels a knot in his stomach. His ally was dead. What would he do now?  
He slows his breathing and collects himself. After double checking the side of the cornucopia for a career checking the surroundings, he darts towards the edge of where he had seen a dozen tributes descend from.  
Peering over the edge, he cautiously steps down the water soaked mud, and eventually reaches the bottom.  
Letting out a sigh of relief, Ben sits at the base of the hill, not caring about getting wet. It was storming so keeping dry wssnt exactly a priority. He sat next to a large Bush, picking leaves from it and fiddling with them. He didnt have a plan now.  
The Bush rustled, and he heard a groan from within. Ben staggered back, slipping backwards in the mud as he got up and falling back to the floor. From the shrub, rose Alex. He had a hand to hid forehead, " Ahh," he hisses, touching his wound briefly before removing his hand.  
Alex looks down and sees Ben, cowering on the floor. "Hi," Alex says, quietly.  
"Are you alright?" Ben gets up, walking towards Alex and holding his hands to his head for assistance.  
Alex winces, "Not really," He admits, "Fuck that hurt,"  
Ben looks back up the hill, "I wonder how far you fell. You cant have been out long, it's only been a few minutes since the games began. I think," Ben looked back at Alex.  
"What's your plan?" Alex asked, not removing his hand from his bleeding wound.  
"I was meant to meet up with Lyra but-" Ben was interrupted by three canon shots. The announcement of the dead from the bloodbath.  
"Only three, huh?" Alex said, looking back up to the cornucopia, the tip of which could be seen from the foot of the hill.  
"That's not much, meaning theres alot of threats out there," Ben turns to the forest.  
"We should stick together. Maybe make it to that mountain," he points to the jagged skyline just beyond the trees, "We could get to high ground. If you want," he added.  
"Yeah, that's great, sure," Ben shrugged, "Should we get walking? The careers have stayed by the cornucopia and I'm not wanting to interact with the six of them just yet,"  
The two begin walking towards the mountain, side by side and at a slow pace.  
"What's in your bag?" Alex asked.  
Ben only just remembers he had gotten a bzg in all of the chaos. "Not sure." He takes it off and unzips it, looking in. "A sleeping bag, Burn cream and some rope."  
"I hope we arent forced to use that burn cream. I'd rather not be involved in a fire, thanks," Alex chuckles, awkwardly.  
"We could find an alcove at the bottom of the mountain, hopefully. Maybe we could sleep in there," Ben suggests.  
"Sure," Alex smiles, acting as happy as he could in a situation like this. 

Blossom and the rest of the careers (Brad, Aubrey, Mercury, Cass and David) had climbed onto the roof of the cornucopia. They sit as a group on the smooth metal surface and look up to the setting sun. The rain was only drizzle at this point, allowing for an almost tranquil sunset.  
Blossom sits om the thin curve of the horn, slightly separate to the rest of the group. They had a box of apples between them and were sharing it round.  
"Let's address the elephant in the room." Blossom commands, "Only three people died in this so called 'bloodbath'. That's disappointing."  
"They're better than they look this year," Brad says, defending himself.  
"A guy who had wore makeup for his interview warded you off with a knife, over a bag, and that was about as much action as you got, Brad," Blossom responded.  
"Who killed who?" Aubrey leans back and asks Blossom.  
"I know that I killed Luke, and if I'm not mistaken, nobody here killed anyone. Am I correct?" Blossom responds. Theres silence.  
"Shut up Blossom, you arent any better than us because you shot an unarmed dickhead between the eyes," David scoffs.  
Blossom takes a bite out of her apple and doesnt respond.  
"If I had been put in a better position around the cornucopia, i could have racked up some good kills," Brad throws an apple core from the top of the cornucopia.  
Blossom rolls here eyes.  
"But you weren't placed in a better position," Cassandra protests, "You didnt kill anyone - and I wouldn't be surprised if the other two deaths were because of the steep, muddy hill that basically everyone went down."  
More silence.  
"Could I have another apple?" Mercury asks, ignoring the conversation. 

As night falls, Anna sits in her cave, just near the edge, staring up at the stars. She uses her wrapped up sleeping bag as a pillow as she dines on a select amount of berries she had gathered from the day. Getting up, she begins to unpack her sleeping bag, before the triumphant music of the Capitol blasts through the arena.  
She returns back to her position on the floor, lying on the wet stone and staring up at the sky.  
The face of Randy, District 3, is projected onto the sky. Anna tries to recall her interactions with Randy, but fails to conjure up any memories. He was just kind of.. a random person. A memory springs to mind, and she remembers his outfit for the interview. He wore golden contact lenses and had a sparkling gold suit. It wasnt bad, but he acted like he didnt want to be there. Which is valid, of course, he wad going to die in a few days, but if he had made it past the bloodbath he wouldnt have gotten ANY sponsors.  
Next was Lyra, district 9, the grain district. She remembers this because lyras outfit had been a short dress made from wheat and grains. Lyra had seemed nice. They hadnt talked at all, mostly because she was too busy getting bullied by Ivory or making friends with Ben. Anna remembers her terrified, twelve year old face as they had been trained, obviously intimidated by the 23 tributes who were older and more dangerous than she. That was depressing.  
Lastly, was Luke, District 12. Anna sat up, pausing before eating her next berry. "Shit," she murmured to herself. Luke hadnt been much but he was from home. The two hadnt talked much in the process to the games, but they were both brought up in district 12. She laid back down as the music faded and Luke's face vanished. Finishing her berries, she unpacks her sleeping bag and thinks about district 12. All the eyes from her district were now on her. That was alot of pressure. But. This only motivated her. She now had to win, not only for her district, but for Luke's family. They seemed kind from the stories Luke had told, even if he wasnt.  
Laying out her sleeping bag behind a large rock in her cave in the forest, Anna tucked herself in and drifted to sleep.


	2. Alliances / Day 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I literally didnt proof read this

Alex began to wake. He woke up in the sleeping bag Ben had gotten from the cornucopia the day previous. Ben was next to him - the two had shared the sleeping bag for warmth because of the torrential rain they had been brought in to on their first day.   
Today, however, he was way hotter. The rain had stopped, and instead he woke up drenched in sweat.  
"What the fuck," Alex pushed himself out of the sleeping bag and wandered outside of their tiny cave at the foot of the mountain. The plain white sky from the day before had been replaced with a crystal blue one, dry and warm. He removed his rain coat and laid it on the now dry ground.   
All of rain that had soaked the mud beneath them had evaporated and now all that was left was dry dust and crisp leaves. Alex climbed onto the ledge just above their shelter and looked up to the sky. The sun had finished rising, meaning it was morning, obviously.   
After jumping back down, Alex hissed, "Ben," before giving him a light kick in the arm.   
"Nngh," Ben woke, squinting because of the morning light, "Why is it so warm?" He mumbled.   
"That's what I was thinking. God its scorching," Alex exhaled forcefully and wafted his hand to his face for cool air.   
"Is the ground still soaked?" Ben asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.   
"No. It's as dry as sand," Alex crossed his arms, "That's so weird,"   
"I wonder if tomorrow itll rain again."   
"Maybe." Alex shrugged, "Well I can tell we are going to be thirsty and hungry later today, so maybe we explore a little bit before going up the mountain. We could find some berries or acorns or whatever."   
Ben nodded, getting out of the sleeping bag and beginning to roll it up, "A river would be ideal,"  
"Mm." Alex agreed, "We should spend the day gathering resources, and maybe embark up the mountain tomorrow," he tied his coat around his waist.  
"That could he dangerous,"  
"This is the fucking hunger games," Alex exclaimed, "Everything we do is dangerous,"  
Ben nods. "You're right,"  
"I usually am," 

Elie staggeres between the dense trees of the arenas forest. If she heads for the mountain then she might be able to find water. She hoped that if she gets to the top then the snow will provide hydration. However, as thirsty as she already was, she didnt know if she could make it up the mountain without water. The best she had gotten so far was some berries that had provided a little liquid, but not much, and she hadnt saved any.   
Stumbling over a root, she lands on the dust covered floor and grazes her knee. "Gah," she grunted as she sat up and examined the scrape. Blood dripped from the small wound and spilled over the tear on her trousers. She swung her bag around her shoulders and unzips it, pulling out the roll of bandages she had found inside.   
Elie unravels the bandages and wraps a small strip around her knee. Maybe she was being over dramatic but she would hate to get an infection. In the silence, Elie possibly heard the trickle of water, not to distant. She clambered to her feet and ran towards the river.   
After slipping down the river bank, Elie scooped water into her mouth with her hands. The dryness of her mouth was combated by the cool flow of the water down her throat.   
After a few moments had passed, Elie sat back on the bank and looked around at the forest around her. She noticed a stream split off from the river and weave into a cave not too far away. That would make a good shelter - shed have a water source as well as shade from the sun. Elie collected her bag, with her throwing knives and winter coat inside, before heading for the cave.  
When inside the ad,utterly narrow cave, Elie dumped her bag on the floor and sat against the curved wall of stone behind her.  
She heard a rustle.   
Swiftly, Elie unzipped her bag with her right hand and tossed one of the knives into the air with her left. She caught the knife and armed herself in a throwing position. "Who's there?" Elie hissed.  
"P-please dont hurt me, I'm sorry, I was just hot from the sun and--" A girl with shoulder length blonde hair came out of the shadows, slowly. It was Aries, from district 3.  
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Elie asked, she didnt move.  
"I'm okay, I was so dehydrated but-" She trailed off, "Are you?"  
"Yes." Elie replied, "What are you going to do now?"   
"I was going to stay in here and.. try my best to survive," Aries stammered.  
"That wont get you to the end of these games," Elie shook her head.  
"What do you suggest?" Aries walked a bit further.  
Elie set down her knife. "I say we go on the offensive. We encounter someone, we dont run, we fight,"   
"Okay... but they--"  
Both of them whip around, having heard a noise outside the cave.

Olive looks down from the branch of her tree. Her pair of bags were strung up by rope next to her. She had gathered a good amount of resources, including a water bottle, which she was rationing due to the immense heat. She also had a sword and shield.  
Despite her resources, she did not have any food and unfortunately for her, she did not have experience with survivalist skills.  
Luckily, however, she had camped in a tree not too far from the cornucopia.   
Olive dropped her sword and shield onto the dry mud below. She left her bags on the branch, before climbing down to the ground. She tied her hair back before picking up her sword and shield and getting ready to charge on the cornucopia.   
Striding through the forest, Olive does some stretches to ready herself. Itll be six against one. Not the best odds but what did she have to lose?  
Olive reaches the bottom of the hill and gets ready to attack. Just as she begins her journey up the hill, a pair of hands grab her by the waist and yank her backwards. She falls into the Bush behind her and can feel a hand over her mouth, the other one restraining her. She struggled and attempted to look at her attacker.   
Its Dominic, from district 11. He whispered, "please be quiet,"   
Olive trusts him and goes quiet. Just as she does she can hear footsteps approaching.   
"God its warm," A female says.   
"Thanks for that, Aubrey, I didnt know," A Male voice responds.   
It was the careers. Olive turns and looks at dominic wide eyed.   
The two walk past, and are followed by another two.  
"So is your hair naturally white?" A woman says.  
"Is your hair naturally pink?" The deep voiced Male responds.  
"Touche,"   
The four tributes pass them, and their voices get quieter.   
Dominic removed his hand from olives mouth.  
"Thank you," Olive said.  
"Its okay," Dominic smiled, "There was only four there, meaning the other two are still up there," he looked up the slope, "What were you thinking attacking on your own? You wouldve been pulled apart,"   
"I know. It was stupid. Thank you, again," Olive admitted.  
"What were you going to do?" Dominic asked.  
"Raid it, hopefully," She crossed her arms, "I need some food."   
"Why dont we both raid it tomorrow?" Dominic suggested.  
"Good idea. So who are the two careers left up there?"   
"Cass and David,"   
"I think we can take them," Olive said, firmly. Dominic smiles in agreement and they both look up at the slope.

Fran had been walking for quite some time. She had gathered water and food and had embarked on a mission to the mountain. Cautiously, she entered a cave not far away from the foot of the mountain. She held her staff in a position which would mean she could defend herself easily, and she was wary about the entrance of the cave to avoid getting cornered.   
Having seen nobody inside, she let out a sigh of relief.   
Fran moved out of the cave and walked along the foot of the mountain, looking for other caves. The last cave was good but she would prefer one with a flat surface and a wide entrance, for an easier escape.  
This arena seemed to be full of caves.  
She moved to the next cave, which had a wide entrance but sloped up a little, which was fine. Beggars cant be choosers.   
Fran froze, she heard someone move in the darkness.   
Fran swept across the floor and flattened herself against a wall, her staff ready for retaliation.   
There was a bend at the end of the cave. Whatever was in this cave was hiding behind that wall.   
Side stepping towards the bend in the cave, fran readied herself by breathing slowly and carefully.   
As she spun around the bend, swinging her staff violently, she was punched in the face.   
Fran fell to the ground, but reacted quickly. She swung her leg and collided with her attackers leg, who fell to the floor after her. Fran quickly got herself up and swung her staff towards the face of whoever had attacked her.  
Something soft hit her stomach and she froze, confused. The person on the floor leaped up and tackled Fran to the floor.   
"Truce! Truce!" The attacker pleaded, while pinning Fran down on the floor.   
"Maybe get off me and I'll consider it," Fran responded.   
The person on top of her sat back, sitting on the hard ground and leaning against the wall.  
Frans eyes has adjusted enough to the caves darkness to recognise this tribute as Anna, the tribute 12 female.  
"I'm Anna," she panted.  
Fran looked around and saw a rolled up sleeping bag on the floor.  
"Did you throw your sleeping bag at me?" Fran asked.  
"Yes," Anna said, "you're Fran, right?"   
"Yeah,"  
"I remember your suit from the interview. Very cool,"   
"Thanks," Fran looked down at her hands and smiled, then stopped. "You punched me in the face,"   
"I thought you were Blossom or Avis or something," Anna explained, she gathered her sleeping bag.   
Fran looked at Anna and wondered why she hadnt just killed Fran. Anna was winning the fight and easily could've hit Frans head off of the floor or something.  
"Why didnt you kill me?" Fran asked.  
Anna looked up from her sleeping bag, "I could use an ally. I figured everyone else would considering how lovey dovey everyone was in training,"  
"I could use an ally too," Fran admitted.   
A smile grew on Anna's face, "Promise you're not going to kill me, regardless of circumstances?"   
"If you do the same, "  
"Of course,"  
The two shook hands.   
"How are the games going for you?" Anna asked.  
"I killed someone yesterday,"  
" holy shit, no way," Anna sat forward.  
"I think his name was randy," Fran wasnt too phased, she had prepared herself for the worst, but it still felt awful.  
"Well rest in peace, randy. Or whatever," Anna shrugged, "He seems like a pretty random guy to me,"  
"I was actually on the move, looking for the right cave."   
Anna nodded, pondering their options.   
"Can I join you?"   
"Yeah," Fran smiled. The two stood up and left their cave.   
As they were walking, they discussed the fallen tributes: Luke, Lyra, Randy.  
They paused, looking into the distance at a cave with a jagged entrance, and saw two younger girls crouched in the opening, weapons in hand. They also hear loud chatter from their right, into the forest, presumably the careers.  
"Them two girls, they're going to try and face the careers," Fran observed.  
"Should we help? We could win, the four of us," Anna suggested, the pace of the conversation picking up speed.  
"They're going to get slaughtered, and so will we , if we stick around."  
"But.. they're going to die if we leave them,"  
"And they're going to die if we stick around,"  
"I.." Anna said, disheartedly.  
"Please, Anna, let's go. We can still survive if we escape now," Fran pleaded.  
"You're right."

Blossom, Brad, Aubrey and Mercury erupt from the forest edge and are greeted with the sudden change of the floor from dirt to rock. They look up and the treeless mountain, weirdly placed, and look around.   
There is a ledge somewhat high up the mountain - "If we get to the ledge, we can see tributes and hunt them down," Brad suggested. The rest had agreed.   
They passed a cave with a ragged entrance.   
"In a different life," Blossom said to Mercury as the pair walked together, "We wouldve been good--"   
-as blossom spoke, a knife soared through the air, spinning like a windmill before the blade collided with Mercurys head. The small blade cut through his temple, and he fell, like a giant, 6"7 tree.   
He fell to Blossoms feet, and a canon echoed through the arena.   
"Oh for fucks sake, " Blossom sighed. Brad and Aubrey whipped around, to see what was happening behind them. The trio turn towards where the knife came from and see two younger girls stood. One of them has a throwing knife ready to aim, the other us holding a throwing knife like a sword.   
Blossom easily identified them. Aries, the one gripping the knife like it was her mothers hand, was from district 3, and was 15. She remember aries sparkling gold dress and shining golden hair on the night of the interview. Aries had been well received by the Capitol. She had adapted their glittering fashion senss and the crowd had loved it. The other girl, Elie, was from district 5, and had been especially quiet with the interviewer.   
Aries charged, towards Blossom, as that was the person closest to her. Mercury had Blossoms crossbow in his bag, which he was now laying with. Luckily, she had a knife in her pocket for a situation such as this.   
Blossom yanked the knife from her belt and dodged Aries swipe with the knife. Aries had admittedly whic reflexes, and swiped again, which Blossom ducked to avoid. Blossom spun and kicked Aries' hand. The knife flew from her hand and embedded itself in the dirt. Blossom barely had time to react when Aries tackled her to the floor.   
Elie threw her knife at Aubrey. Aubrey was already holding an axe, and so spun, swinging her axe and deflecting the knife as if she was playing baseball.   
Elie had another knife and threw it in Aubreys direction. Aubrey was not so quick this time and was cut in the stomach. Aubrey, now infuriated, darted forward, axe in hand.   
The collision that Blossom made with the floor caused her to drop the knife. Aries pinned Blossom down by grabbing her wrists with an iron clad grip. Blossom struggled underneath Elie and managed to turn, getting on top. Blossom went to reach for the knife but Aries kicked, causing Blossom to fall backwards. As Blossom scrambled up, Brad had arrived, and had wrapped his arms around Aries, picking her up.  
Aubrey swung her single wielding axe with anger, Elie dodged it and went to stab Aubrey in the gut with her knife. Aubrey lifted her left up to bend her knee as a defense, she also managed to grab Elie from the back of her head, and smashed her face into her knee.   
Elie tumbled to the ground and looks up at Aubrey. Aubrey swung her axe, and the edge of the weapon collided with the side of Elies head, embedding itself just above her ear. Blood squirted over the dry mud, creating an even darker and dirtier shade of red.   
Brad picked Aries up and threw her to the floor. Aries looked over to the other battle happening parallel and saw Aubrey removing her axe from inside Elies head.   
"Oh shit," Aries sighed. she looked up and saw Brad holding a weight above his head, and he threw it down onto Aries.  
Two canon shots were heard in the arena. 

Alex and Ben looked up. They heard a canon shot and then looked at each other. They exchanged glances before continuing to pick berries.  
They were stood in a small portion of the forest covered in berry bushes. Ben had taught Alex during the training the difference between different types of berries.   
"God it's so hot. I'm so thirsty," Alex complained.  
"Here," Ben said. Alex turned round and Ben tossed a berry at Alex. Alex caught it in his mouth and they started laughing.   
They had managed to make a makeshift basket out of a part of the sleeping bag they had torn off. Alex was holding it in one hand and picking berries with the other. Ben was picking berries and depositing them in the basket.   
Ben had a handful of berries from a particularly fruitful Bush. Alex dropped some berries in the basket while Ben deposited his handful. Their hands brushes against eachother. They exchanged glances and smiled. Alex started to blush.  
As they stood in awkward silence they heard a rhythmic whistle.  
"Is that..?" Alex asked.  
"A sponsor. Yes," Ben answered.  
Whenever someone wanted to sponsor a tribute, they paid for a tiny parachute with a gift attached to it, to be sent to said tribute.  
The couple looked up and saw the glistening silver parachute dance between the trees, before landing in one of the bushes nearby.  
Ben went over to open the capsule. He pulled out a small water bottle, empty from the weightlessness of it, as well as a tiny note inside that said:

The audience is loving this.

Alex came over and read the note. He looked around, raising an eyebrow. He looked into one of the stubbed branches in the tree and knew that they used these as cameras - "Thanks," He replied, hesitantly.  
A twig snapped.  
The pair looked over to the site of the noise and ducked. They could faintly see the top of someone with short red hair. "Ivory," Ben mouthed to Alex.   
They sat in silence.   
Alex looked around and picked up a stone. He threw it in the opposite direction.   
The red haired tribute dashed towards where the sound had come from and out of earshot. 

Reuben leaned back in the water and looked into the sky - or at least the hologram on the ceiling of the arena. He moved his arms in slow circular motions to keep afloat.   
His hair moved around his head like a mane and he slowly closed his eyes. The coolness of the small lake he had found while following the river had been a lucky find. After washing his face with some of the cool water, he floated for a while in the centre of the pond.   
God these games were exhausting, he thought.   
His eyes flickered open and he identified his surroundings.   
The forest surrounded him both sides. He looked towards the side of the pond covered in rocks, and glanced back at the muddy riverbank on the other side. Quicky and with a sudden realisation, he turned back around and saw someone stood ontop of the highest of the rocks forming the wall on one of the sides of the pond.  
Slowly, Reuben sank into the water so that only his eyes were sticking out of the water.  
The figure dived into the water and resurfaced. It was atlas, from district 7. Reuben remembered atlas also being wildly popular with the crowds of the Capitol. They would be the Capitol's favourites if they were allies.  
He didnt appear to have any weapons on him. He was just treading water and splashing himself, for coolness.  
"Having fun?" Reuben called, from a few metres away.  
Atlas turned around, laughing, "yeah. Until someone jumped out at me,"  
"Just be grateful I wasnt armed," Reuben smiled.  
Atlas moved his arms and splashed Reuben.  
"Oh my God," Reuben laughed and swam backwards.  
"Where are you heading?"  
"I'm not sure yet. Away from everyone else I hope,"   
"I'm heading to the mountain, or at least I was going to. I dont have anything to carry water in and if the weather stays like this I'm going to need something to,"   
"I cant help you in that department," Reuben looked around, "Not sure."   
"I have some food if you want?"   
"That would be amazing," Reuben let out a sigh of relief.   
The two climbed out of the pond and walked to the top of the rock Atlas had dived off of. They sat on the edge of the mini cliff edge and ate acorns.   
As Reuben and atlas discussed the games, they heard a whistle and looked up. A small parachute with a silver capsule attached to it floated down and onto the rock beside them. Atlas picked it up and cracked it open, inside was a large water bottle.   
"Oh my God, thank you!" Atlas beamed and looked around.  
"That was so generous, thank you so much," Reuben laughed. Atlas' reaction was so fake. Reuben knew exactly what he was doing. He despised him for it. He was only doing it so people would love him and for the attention. But then again, as was Reuben. 

The three canon shots sounded consecutively, and Fran and Anna stopped walking.   
"I wonder which ones of them died," Anna sighed.  
"I reckon Elie, Aries and Blossom." Fran declared.  
"I hope its three careers, but I think it's two careers and Elie."   
They continue to walk, stepping over tree roots and hopping over small streams.   
They leave the forest area and find themselves at an opening, with a small pond in the centre. "Finally," Anna runs towards the water and starts drinking from it.   
"Anna, wait," fran whispered, looking into the distance. Anna follows her gaze and spots Quinn on the other side of the river then them, perched on some rocks and drinking from the pond.   
Slowly, Quinn locks eye contact with the opposing pair and they stare at each other until someone makes a move.   
All of a sudden, Quinn spins and grabs hold of her staff, with a blade on either side, and begins to run around the coast of the pond. Fran does the same with her staff and Anna follows her. They met on a higher part of the riverbank where there was a small drop into the water. Fran swung her staff and Quinn ducked under it. She then kicked Anna in the stomach, who toppled off of the rock and into the water below. Quinn turned around and is met with a blow to the face with Frans staff. She toppled backwards but regains her balance before falling off into the water. Quinn spun a few times, spinning the staff in her right hand with her. She used the momentum and slashed at Fran, who ducked out of the way, but her sleeve is slashed open. Quinn used her spare hand to punch Fran in the nose, and she fell backwards against the hard, warm stone.   
Fran violently kicked at quinns ankles, making her fall backwards. Quinns bare ankle skin caught a jagged edge of a rock, and blood gushed out. "Gah!!" Quinn grunted.  
She pushes her staff toward Fran, "Back off."   
Fran got up slowly, raising her left hand and picking up the staff with her rightly before backing away.   
Anna climbed out of the water and panted, putting a hand on her chest to regulate her breaths. Fran looked from Quinn, injured a vulnerable, but holding a weapon, to anna, injured and vulnerable. Fran darted off to Anna to check if shes okay.   
"I'm fine," Anna panted, "That blow to the stomach hurt. I was winded underwater,"   
Fran looked back and Quinn was gone. 

Sasha sat on a tall tree branch, secured by some vines she had tied around her, and with a basket of acorns tied to the branch next to her. During the day, she had found alot of acorns, and now had a pretty hefty supply.   
The evening was getting on, and the sun was setting. She could probably sleep here, in this tree. She hadnt minded.   
She looked across to the tree parallel to hers, and saw someone climb up it, with great difficulty, they were obviously injured. The person sat in a branch at around sashas height, and panted, before getting rope out of their bag and strapping themselves down. It was Quinn. The girl from district eight, with her distinctive space buns that she had worn throughout the training process. Sasha winced as Quinn tended to her ankle wound, blood dripping out and into the darkness bellow.   
Ths familiar sound of the commemoration music began to play and both of the tributes looked up.   
"The fallen tributes" was tattooed on the night sky.   
First was Mercury. Sasha was surprised he had died this early. He had had a good shot at winning. She remembered back in the interview, where Mercury had worn a suit that was camouflaged, making it appear invisible. She had loved it, to be honest, but thought he seemed to quiet - it was sinister. Next was Aries. Sasha hadnt known Aries well, but her golden sparkling hair was cool. Aries was young, and it made sasha sad to know that she could've been brutally murdered. The next was Elie, where the same thoughts passed through sashas mind. God this whole thing was fucked up. And she could be next.   
The music came to a stop and Sasha looked back down. Her and Quinn immediatly made eye contact.   
Quinn looked like a scared animal, hopeless. She was frozen in her position.   
The two have a small standoff, before Sasha ends it by waving.   
Quinn let's out a sigh of relief, and smiles.   
They smile for a while, sasha still eating acorns regularly.   
She throws one over to Quinn, who catches it and gratefully eats it.   
They exchange food through their throwing system, before waving each other goodnight and slipping into a restless sleep.


	3. Day 3

Ivory woke to a cool sensation, as if he was submerged in water. His eyes fluttered open and he sat up quickly, he realised that he was, in fact, in water.   
The cave he was in was at a steep decline from the ground above, and it had apparently rained throughout the night, meaning ivorys cave was flooded with about 10 inches depth of rainwater.  
In a quick brainstorm, he made plans to escape from his cave before the flood had grown too deep for him to swim through. He didnt actually know how to swim. Ivory muttered to himself as he readied himself to leave, "Why did I go in the opposite direction to the fucking mountain? It would be really handy right nnow..."  
As Ivory growled and muttered, the rain outside only got heavier, and by the time he was on his way out of the cave, the water was about an inch thicker. 

A large leaf which had been gathering water for the past few minutes, finally succumbed to the weight of the water, and bent, releasing the large volume of water onto Quinn, sleeping on the branch below.   
Quinn sputtered and looked around, ready to flee or fight. She looked over and sasha waved back, obviously packing away her things, and so Quinn awkwardly waved back.   
After a few minutes of Sasha wrapping her basket of acorns up in the vines she had slept in, she hopped over the small gap between two trees, and then climbed over to where Quinn was.  
"Dont kill me," Quinn groaned, "please,"  
"Why would I kill you?" Sasha laughed.  
"Were in the hunger games," Quinn responded, "You know. You're meant to kill me,"  
"I'm not the killing type,"   
"I would kill me," Quinn said, "if I were you,"  
"Do you want me to kill you or not?" Sasha wrapped the basket around her waist using the excess vines she had collected.   
"I'm good, thanks," Quinn replied.  
"Your ankle certainly isn't," Sasha knelt down, "Let me see,"  
Quinn exposed her wounds to sasha, who gritted her teeth, "Yikes," the wound looked painful, it was a miracle Quinn had climbed the tree.   
"I'm not sure how to help - I'm no healer," Sasha bit her lip.  
"That's fine, dont worry," Quinn reassured Sasha.   
The two sat in silence for a moment before a whistle sounded through the forest.  
Sasha and Quinn looked up and stared at the silver parachute that floated down above them.   
"Holy shit," Quinn exclaimed as the parachute landed in the space between them.   
Sasha cracked the capsule open and there was a small tub of ointment inside.   
"Heal up," Sasha read from the card inside.   
"Holy shit," Quinn repeated. Sasha unscrewed the lid of the ointment and gathered some of the creamy white substance on her finger. She rubbed it in to the skin surrounding quinns wound, who inhaled sharply in response to the pain.   
"Thanks," Quinn smiled.  
"Theres flooding," Sasha informed Quinn, "I can only imagine it's going to get worse. If you feel a little better later we should head for higher ground,"   
"Good idea, if the flooding gets ridiculous we could find a log that we could use as a raft," Quinn suggested.   
"So - I assume this wound wasnt self inflicted?" Sasha changed the subject as quickly as she had started on it.   
"I ran into that girl with white hair, she had gotten friendly to that girl from 12,"  
"Fran and Anna?" Sasha shrugged, "I didnt see them in the sky last night, I guess you were unsuccessful, "   
"It was 2 against 1, although I did punch Fran in the face,"  
Sasha grinned.  
"Want an acorn?" 

"She broke my fucking nose," Fran grunted, as Anna picked some berries.   
"Yeah," Anna sighed, "Pretty skilled with that staff though,"   
"Sure," Fran rolled her eyes. She was leaning against a tree while Anna rifled through a Bush and collected some of the small red bead like berries.   
"I'm just grateful that Elie and Aries took Mercury out with them, that guy could've been lethal," Anna noted.  
"Just the other five careers to go,"  
"We can cross that bridge when we get to it," Anna continued, " for the meantime we should collect as much food as we can before this flood gets crazy,"   
"What do you thinks going to happen?"  
"I think that the flooding wont stop for a few days, and the huge hills will become islands. Maybe like an oceanic games,"   
"That's interesting," Fran nodded.  
"What about you?"   
"I reckon the mountain is a volcano," Fran said, "and it's going to erupt when there arent many tributes left,"   
"God I hope not. That would suck," 

Dominic and Olive laid next to eachother at the top of the huge slope surrounding the cornucopia. Their bags were at the bottom of the hill, and they now only had Olives sword and shield, and a dagger for dominic.  
"Are you sure about this?" Dominic bit his lip, as he saw David wander around the cornucopia and Cass sat on top of it.   
"Sure. I can take David, hes like, twelve," Olive responded, "Cass is the one I'm worried about,"   
"What if-" He trailed off, he noticed a girl running from the tree line at the opposite side of the cornucopia, wielding a handcrafted spear. She charged forward and her hair blew out of her face, revealing it to be Avis, the girl from district 10. She swung her spear at David, who is unsuspecting, and is hit in the head.   
As the fight breaks out between the two, Olive and dominic charge without question. As they sprint towards the giant horn, Cass notices the sprinting duo and hops from the top of the cornucopia, grabbing a sword.   
"You made a mistake, Olive," Cass grunts, getting ready to fight.   
Olive slows down and takes position with her sword and shield, making eye contact with Cass. "Dominic, go inside and get what we need,"  
Dominic nods and does what hes told.   
"You're going to be sorry," Cass growled as she slowly movedforward.  
"Come and get it, Olive grunted, charging forward and swinging her sword, colliding with Casses. The sound of colliding steel echoed through the clearing. Cass retaliated and swung her sword, which Olive blocked with her shield. Cass spun around, holding the momentum of the rebound of the shield, and swung had sword from the other side. Olive promptly dodged the blow, and used her shield to push Cass back. Cass fell and rolled backward, springing into another action stance with her sword.  
David turned round and went to punch Avis in the stomach, she held her spear with both hands and deflected his arm from landing the blow. He quickly span and kicked her in the side, she grunted and stumbled slightly, before he punched her in the face and knocked her over.   
"You stupid bitch," David growled, "I'm going to gut you like a fucking fish," He grabbed a sword from nearby.   
"Watch your mouth, what do you think your parents would have to say about your potty mouth?" Avis replied, getting up.  
"Shut up, you dont want your last words to be a shitty insult do you?"  
"Isnt it past your bedtime, pal?" Avis readied her spear, "If you're not home by 5 your parents will be getting worried," She charged forward and used the blunt end of the spear to hit his stomach, he keeled over and sne used the other end to swipe upwards. The blade tore his cheek and he fell backward, clutching his cheek, blood gushing from between his fingers. Avis sprinted towards the cornucopia and starts rifling through the boxes. Dominic is in there, collecting bags of supplies, but the two silently make an agreement not to hurt one another.  
Meanwhile, Cass darted forward and slashed at Olive with her sword, olive dodged the blow swung her sword back at Cass. Cass ducked to avoid the blow, and punched Olive in the stomach. Olive grunted but retaliated, slamming her shield into Cass as she stood back up. Olive shoved Cass against the side of the cornucopia and Cass collided with the hard metal, exclaiming in pain. For a second the two stood in mutual respect. Their vision was blurred by the heavy rain, and Olive released her grip on Cass with the shield, and she fell to the floor.   
"You finished in there?" Olive shouted, backing away from Cass and entering the cornucopia.  
Dominic emerged from the dreaded horn holding a few bags. Avis swiftly escaped, sprinting off towards the tree line.  
"You didnt kill her?" Olive asked.  
"You didnt kill her?" Dominic replied.   
"Shut up, lets go," Olive grumbled, setting off to the tree line.   
After they reached the bottom of the slope, they sort through the supplies. "What now?" Dominic asked, looking through his bag of the halved loot.  
"We split up. If we meet eachother again we wont kill eachother,   
"Oh," Dominic was admittedly disappointed, he was hoping to get more allies in the process but Avis didnt seem the most welcoming and Olive was about to ditch him, "That's fine,"   
"I'll be seeing you then," Olive turned and left, her boots splashing in the water. The air tasted bitter. 

Ben and Alex left their small nook in one of the colossal rock sticking out of the ground beyond the forest. "What do we do now?" Alex asked, inspecting his boots after dragging them from the foot and a half of water smothering the ground.   
"Our best bet is the mountain, right?" Ben suggested, he sounded unsure.  
"What's wrong?" Alex asked, trying not to pry.   
"All of the tributes will be doing this," Ben sighed.  
Alex nodded. "Think of how many people you helped out and befriended in the training. You'll be fine, we might even add to our little squad we have going on."   
Ben smiled, "I'm still unsure,"  
"Come on. We should get to higher ground before dark," Alex began the ascent, Ben following. It was a steep hill to the main point of the mountain, and huge rocks seemed to populate the scarce woods on the hillside.

"Blossom, who do you most want to kill out of the remaining little shits?" Brad asked, turning and pausing his climb up the slope to ask.  
"None of them? What type of question even is that?" Blossom scowled, and Aubrey, who was ahead of noth of them, turned.   
" I want to kill that shit Reuben. Who does he-" Brad started.  
"I want to kill Olive," Aubrey announced before turning and resuming her ascent.   
Blossom looked between the two, "Do you even care that Mercury is dead?"  
The question was ignored and the other two careers reached the top of the slope, Blossom closely followed.   
Brad dropped his gear, and Blossom looked at him, confused, and followed his gaze. Ahead, against the cornucopia, David was tending to a wound Cass appeared to have behind her head, and David was marked with a thin scar across his cheek.   
"What the fuck?!" Brad stormed forward, "You little shits!" He growled, looking into the cornucopia and seeing the missing supplies.   
"What happened here?" Aubrey shouted, storming towards the wounded pair.   
"We were attacked. it was 3 against 2," Cass explained.   
David spoke up, "We were outnumbered,"   
Brad threw one of the boxes on the floor and it shattered, the plastic exploding into the water, shards floating in the damp mud.   
Aubrey gripped her weapons tightly.  
"Who was it?" Blossom asked, calmly.   
"Avis," David answered.  
"And Olive and dominic," Cass added.  
"That bitch," Aubrey spat.   
"You could easily have taken them," Brad growled.  
David stood, "If you guys had stayed here, we wouldve killed three tributes and hadnt have   
Lost our strongest ally!"   
Aubrey whipped around and punched David in the face, he fell backwards and landed in the mud. An argument broke out between the four, as Blossom rubbed her temples and looked around.   
"Shut up!" Blossom yelled cutting through the argument and creating silence.  
"This storm if going to cause a colossal flood. And unless we get off this hill we will be stranded. If we make our way to the mountain, we can get to higher ground. Most other tributes will have the exact same idea and we can eliminate them. The supplies are gone, theres nothing we can do about it. We are going to have to play the games like everyone else does, and without the upper hand," She said, angrily. 

"This is definitely not an idea exclusive to us." Reuben noted, trudging along the hillside.  
"Everyone else is going to do the same," Atlas admitted.   
"Then why are we doing it?"   
"We are going to go to the opposite side of the mountain - everyone else will be on the side facing the cornucopia," Atlas beamed.   
"You're putting alot of faith on the chance that noone else has this idea.. " Rueben replied, quietly.   
So far, the two had been getting on fine, but they both knew that they were only allies because they were some of the capitols favourites. They had to act like the perfect pair in order to convince the Capitol that they were the dream team. It had been going swimmingly, and Rueben hoped nothing would mess their strange arrangement up.   
As if on cue, someone emerged from the forest, running up the hill and past atlas and Reuben.   
It was Dominic, and he sprinted past the pair, beginning his climb up the mountainside.   
"Hey!" Atlas called.   
"Why would you do that?!" Reuben hissed.   
Dominic turned around and stopped, "Hi,"   
"We got on well in the training," Atlas stated.  
"Yes, we did," Dominic laughed.  
"Want to join our alliance?" Atlas shrugged.  
"Subtle," Reuben rolled his eyes.   
Doninic smiled, "Please, yes, I had a weird alliance with olive, but we split up,"   
"Ah okay," Atlas nodded as he made his way up to Doninic.  
"Riveting stuff," Reuben followed, "What are you doing?"  
"I was going to climb the mountain," Dominic responded, "Well actually I was going to camp at the first cliff edge I saw. its nearly nightfall,"  
"Good idea, we will join you," Atlas agreed.  
Wasnt he just talking about how he was going to go to the other side of the mountain? Reuben thought. God he hated him.   
The trio made their way up the mountain, and found themselves at a cliff edge in which water rolled down like a waterslide.   
They camped next to eachother at the top of the gradual slope and settled, waiting for the memoriam.   
It never came.


	4. Day 4

"I was expecting it to be warm today," Quinn sighed.   
The forest floor was no longer visible. The flooding had gotten worse overnight, and it was still raining.   
"How deep do you think it is?" Sasha asked, peering off the edge of the branch the two were sat on.   
"It looks like three meters. Maybe more? Could be wrong though," Quinn sighed, again.  
Sasha paused, "Can you swim?"   
"A little. You?"   
"A little."   
They sat silence.  
"Hey, look," Quinn exclaimed; floating slowly through the forest, a two metre long log was heading right for their tree, "What if we use that as a boat," She suggested.   
Sasha looked at her, blatantly anxious about that plan.  
"What do we have to lose?" Quinn asked, before impulsively sliding off of the branch and into the water below.   
"Quinn!-" Sasha cried, "Shit,"   
Quinns head resurfaced, as the log was floating towards her at a steady pace. She moved to the side, treading water calmly, and climbed up onto the log, "Sasha, hurry up!" The log moved past the tree Sasha was still in, and she anxiously peered over. Sasha bit her lip and looked around, considering the idea. She would have to leave her acorn basket behind but-  
"Sasha come on!" Quinn called.  
"Ah, fuck it," She grunted, sliding from the branch and into the water.   
Sasha pried her eyes open underneath the water, despite her natural instincts telling her not to. While underneath the flood, she saw rogue leaves and twigs floating through the dirty water.   
Sasha erupted from the flood, frantically gasping for air and looking for Quinn.   
"Quickly!" Quinn yelled. Sasha swam, as well as she could, against the current and towards Quinns voice. She reached the log and slammed her hands against the side of the log, grabbing on the best she could. Quinns hand wrapped around Sashas wrist, and pulled her onto the log.   
"Thanks," Sasha panted.   
"You got me scared that you were gonna let me leave alone," Quinn admitted.  
Sasha reached into the water and pulled out a branch, about a meter in length.   
"I'm going to use this as an oar. And then we are heading for the mountain,"

Ben grunted as he stopped his ascent up the mountain to rest. "Can we stop here?'' He panted, leaning against a small ledge next to the path.  
"Of course," Alex sighed, relieved. The climb so far had been difficult. The rain had made the rocks slippy, and they had found themselves on a rather steep part of the mountain, which was only ,made more difficult by the billowing winds and rain.Ben used the side of the ledge to scale the small wall, sitting comfortably at the top of it and looking out onto the arena.   
Alex planted his foot in the wall, pulling himself up. His foot slipped, and he fell to the ground. His body collided with the path he had been walking on moment ago, and the water trickling down provided lubricant for Alex to slide.   
"Shit," Ben exclaimed as Alex tumbled down the slope.   
His body came to a halt at a ledge, a little further down the mountain, and he sat up, steadily.   
"Alex are you okay?" Ben shouted from his safe point.   
"I think so," Alex shouted up, cautiously standing.  
"Maybe we should just camp here and stay here," Ben yelled.  
Alex gave a thumbs up and began his short and dangerous journey back up to Ben's ledge. 

"This sucks," Aubrey shouted between gasps of air.   
"This sucks for you?" Brad responded, "I'm carrying the bags..."  
The careers were swimming through the flooded arena, en route to the mountain, following the trend of every other tribute. Brad had near enough four bags attached to his torso, and was struggling to wade through the water.  
Cass was swimming backwards, being from district 4 she had grown up around water all of her life, and was tugging Aubrey through the flood with her arm. Aubrey was from district 2, the military district, and had never been taught how to swim.   
"Get it together," David groaned, "Youd think you guys were the twelve year olds,"  
The five continued in silence, before Blossom spoke up.   
"Hey, theres a rock here. We could rest,"   
The others agreed and they stationed themselves on the side of the large rock. God, she hated them all. She assumed they hated eachother as well, as they were always in arguments or competing with one another.   
"Everyone will be on the mountain," Aubrey complained.  
"Then we kill them," David grinned.  
"Look," Brad laughed. The rest looked to where he was referring to, and a boy was stood at the top of the rock, frozen in terror. Blossom knew that it was Zach, from district 10.   
"You're from the same district as Avis," Blossom stated.   
Zach nodded, slowly.   
"Are you with her?" Cass asked, rising slowly, enraged and wanting revenge.   
He shook his head.  
"Are you with anybody?" David asked, rising.  
Zach remained silent.   
"Hah..." David chuckled, "Good." David darted up the rock, Zach, in reflex, fell backwards and tumbled down the other side of the rock. David followed him down and tackled him back into vision.   
"Get him, David!" Brad cheered.   
David pinned Zach down as Zach thrashed. Using all the strength and adrenaline in his body, Zach tipped his body and dragged David into the water with him.   
From what Blossom could see through the splashes and rain, David had appeared to have resurfaced, and was shoving his hands below into the water. After what seemed like forever, a canon went off in the arena.   
"Jesus," Blossom said in the silence as David returned back to their rexting point.   
"Did you see when he pulled me into the water? Poor bastard probably thought it would save him, ha." David bragged.   
"God. Drowning sounds like an awful way to die.." Blossom said, "He seemed nice too,"  
"So does a crossbow bolt to the face," Brad responded, looking Blossom in the eye.   
"Nope. Quick. Almost painless," Blossom replied.  
"Doubt it,"  
"Want to see for yourself?"   
"Stop it." Cass interrupted, "We can kill eachother when the other tributes are dead.for now we stick together,"   
Blossom raised a quick eyebrow at Brad, and he scowled in response. 

"Well, I'll admit that this wasnt the best plan," Fran admitted. Fran and Anna were stood in the water inside their cave, and were presently having to look upward when speaking to avoid a mouthful of water.   
"We are going to have to hold our breath and swim under the cave entrance," Anna concluded, "I cant swim,"  
"You're going to have to." Fran sighed, "Follow my lead,"  
Fran gasped a last breath of air before dunking herself into the water. She pushed her arms out and moved them back to her chest, kicking her legs simultaneously and swimming downwards. After checking Anna was following her, which she was, Fran continued swimming against the current and out of the cave.   
She came up for air and immediatly looked around for Anna.  
Panting, Fran called out, "Anna?!"   
"Anna!??"  
Nothing but painful and silence in response.   
"Fuck," Fran whispered.  
Anna submerged from the water, suddenly, and spluttered.   
"Anna, you're okay!"   
"Not sure if okay is the word," Anna responded.  
She looked around and pulled herself onto the roof of the cave they had departed from.   
Fran climbed up afterward and they hugged. Around them, the tree line ended and the mountain began.  
"We should climb higher. My theory about the ocean games might be too close to home,"   
"Agreed."

Reuben, Atlas and Dominic cowered underneath a ledge on the mountain, in one of the only dry spots in the arena. They huddled together under a blanket Dominic had collected from the raid and ate from a bag of apples.   
"This sucks," Reuben groaned.   
Nobody responded, and the three of them look at the three water bottles they had left out for the rainwater to collect.   
They had managed to find a flat surface on the mountain, with a small alcove on one side and a steep drop on the other. Despite it giving them a good view, their altitude only made it colder.   
"What do we do now?" Dominic asked, almost scared to hear the answer.  
"Stay here? If it gets better tomorrow then we are in luck if not then we have a good shelter and arent in the awful areas of the flooding," Atlas suggested.  
Reuben nodded in response.   
Dominic froze, "do you hear that? Like, hurried footsteps,"   
The trio stayed still, through the deafening rain and humming of thunder, they could identify ryhtmic beats that could only be footsteps.   
From the ledge above them, a female tribute crashed onto the flat surface before them, knocking over the water bottles like a game of bowling.   
Atlas stood up, tearing the blanket away and leaving Reuben and dominic on the floor.   
"Avis," Dominic said. Avis stood, two bags strapped to her back, "We didnt kill you at the cornucopia," Dominic reminded her.   
"And I didnt kill you," Avis responded, "I'd be lying if i said i didnt regret it,"   
"Are you going to take all three of us?" Reuben asked, "I didnt think you were all that stupid,"   
Avis stood for a moment, "What have I got to lose?" She decided.   
Avis reached to her bag, for a weapon, presumably. Atlas darted forward, grabbing Avis and tackling her to the floor. She brought her knee up violently and it collided with atlass stomach, he winced and she used the opportunity to flip him over onto his back and punch him in the face. "Help him!" Reuben panicked. Dominic ran forward but Avis leaped up and prepared herself to fight back. Dominic leered forward with a punch dn Avis jumped to the side. She span and kicked him in the side before punching him in the stomach. Dominic tumbled over, rolling near the edge of the steep slope.   
Reuben sped to Dominic, pulling him away from the edge. The pair stood up and turned to face Avis, but were shocked to see her stood before Atlas, who's back was to the cliff edge.   
Avis had acquired a knife from her bag and was holding it in her hand, before any of them could react, she thrusted the knife into Atlas chest, and again in the stomach, she then grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him backwards, sending him toppling him off of the mountain.   
A canon shot was heard.   
"You bitch," Reuben gasped. Avis gave one last look at the pair before sliding off of the clearing and into the steepness bellow. 

Quinn and Sasha waded through the water with their branches. The log sailed through the flood like scissors through Paper, and they had made alot of progress through the day. The mountain was in sight and soon they would have to leave their makeshift raft behind.   
For the most part of the day, they had been talking about the games, but were now bored and in silence.   
"Wait is that a person?" Sasha asked from the front of the log. Quinn looked off to the side of the boat and someone was flailing in the water. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be Ivory. Quinn remember Ivory being awful to Lyra, the girl from his district and a girl Quinn had gotten along with.  
"I'm going to kill you, you know," Ivory had said.   
Lyra remained silent.  
"Did you hear me?" Ivory asked, "I said I'm going to fucking kill you," The two stood in the fake forest area in the training centre, where tributes could practise their survival skills.   
"What the fuck, man," Quinn interrupted. She stepped through the fake trees and crossed her arms once arriving at the scene.   
"Hey it's none of your business, bitch,"   
"Leave her alone, asshole," She scowled, "Come on kid, let me show you how to defend yourself from 6' tall assholes," She guided Lyra out of the small clearing.   
"I look forward to killing you too, whore!" He had shouted behind her.   
"P-please help me," Ivory coughed, spluttering water, as the log sailed past.   
"Quinn should we-?" Sasha began.   
"I hope Lyra enjoys seeing you burn in Hell from her front row seat in paradise," Quinn said, coldly.   
"Please, Quinn," Ivory pleaded.   
"You should have gotten allies while you could," She added, "Whore."  
The log continued, Sasha staying in silence. The splashing behind them stopped and a canon went off. 

Olive sat in an alcove. Her legs soothed after a day of climbing to the peak of the mountain. She looked out onto the rest of the arena, most of it smothered by mist.   
She got out two blankets and a sleeping bag and got comfortable.   
In the sky, the faces of the fallen tributes were projected.   
Atlas was first. Olive felt a pang of pain in her heart as Atlas' charming face was shown to the whole country. They had been from the same district.If their plan had went correctly, they would be together and Victors. She sighed, sitting back and comforting herself to recover from the grief that she knew she would have to face eventually.


	5. Day 5

Alex squinted, holding a hand above his eyes as tears streamed from them, "What?" He shouted over the deafening wind.   
"I said," Ben shouted back, "This wind is going to cause problems!"   
The rain had stopped, and the sky was finally blue again, but the rain was replaced by heavy wind, which made it dangerous to be on the top of a mountain.   
Alex nodded. he hadnt heard what Ben said but he wanted to be polite.   
They were currently climbing higher on the mountain, where the wind was only getting stronger.   
They turned a corner and are surrounded by ten feet tall solid walls of rock, the wind was being blocked by the walls, and they could finally hear one another again.   
"This fucking wind, man," Alex panted.   
"This is a good place to camp, right?" Ben looked around. they could see the end of the valley, which opened up go a small clearing before a steep drop off of the mountain.  
"Sure." Alex agreed.   
"Wait-" Ben hushed.  
"What-" Ben threw his hand to cover Alex's mouth.   
They both looked up.   
A figure leapt over the crevice the pair were hiding in. He was shortly followed by a slightly smaller figure.   
"If I fall, Blossom, I swear to God," A female said before jumping over the crevice.   
A smaller figure jumped across, and finally another female.   
"Look there's light coming from that cave," one of them said, now muffled due to the distance away from them and the wind  
When Alex and Ben were confident the tributes were gone, they looked back at eachother. "The careers," Alex concluded.

"I cant believe hes gone," Reuben said, almost monotone. He was staring at a fixed point in the cave wall and not moving.   
"He was the only one of us who could fight well. What are we going to do?" Doninic bit his lipm pacing the opening of the cave. Much like their alcove, this new cave opened up to a cliff edge, with a deep drop into oblivion.   
"God this sucks," Reuben spat, "The people at home are going to be upset,"  
"You two were some of the fan favourites, weren't you?" Dominic asked, stopped, looking out into the arena.   
Reuben didnt respond.  
"I dont-" Dominic trailed off. Reuben turned around to see if he was okay.   
In the opening of the cave, silhouetted against the harsh blue of the sky, was David. He didnt appear to be armed.  
"Are you okay?" Dominic asked, backing up slowly.   
Reuben was already on his feet, wielding a spear and jerking it outward towards David.  
David started to laugh. As if rehearsed and on cue, the rest of the careers made themselves known.  
Aubrey came from the left, holding an axe in one hand, alongside Cassie, weilding knives.   
From the right came Brad, holding a large weight, and Blossom with a crossbow.   
"Fuck," Reuben chuckled nervously.  
"Please leave us alone," Dominic pleaded, "We just lost a friend, have some mercy,"   
Aubrey, Brad and David began to laugh.  
Dominic looked at Reuben, who gave him a spear.   
"Sorry, but everybody has to die one of these days," Blossom sighed, sounding almost regretful. She swiftly aimed and shot a crossbow bolt into reubens leg. "Gah!" He yelled, falling to his knees.   
Dominic threw the spear, narrowly missing Brad, before turning round and seeing Cass tackle Reuben onto his back.   
Reuben grunted and squirmed under Cass, but managed to get his legs to his chest and kick her off.   
"Reuben," Dominic grunted, running towards him. Before he could reach him, a pair of large hands gripped his arms and spun him round, throwing him to the floor. he tumbled towards the edge of the mountain, not unlike the day before.   
Despite his best efforts, Reuben was being held in place by Cass, who had gotten him to his knees and facing dominic.  
"No," Reuben whimpered, "No,"  
David approached, slowly, knife in hand, and looked Reuben in the face. All other eyes were on them.   
"Being the audiences favourite doesnt mean shit in here," David smiled and streams of tears ran down reubens face.  
"As soon as you've eliminated everyone else - I hope that you're the first one your friends turn on." Reuben replied, sobbing, "I enjoy burning alongside you in Hell," He spat at David's face, who groaned.  
David raised the knife and slit reubens throat, dragging the knife through the flesh, spilling reubens blood all over the floor of the cave and on David.   
The five turned around and looked at dominic, laying on the edge of the mountain.   
A canon goes off.   
Dominic snatched the spear on the ground nearby and holds it out to the oncoming crowd.   
"Theres nowhere to go," Aubrey observed.   
Doninic looked behind him and looked at the careers.   
"I dont want to give you the satisfaction," Dominic leaned backwards and toppled off of the cliff edge.  
No canon was heard. 

Anna and Fran stopped walking. Fran, exhausted, took shelter next to a cliff face on the side of the path they were walking up. Anna came to her side, sliding down the wall and to the floor.   
"If someone doesnt kill us that wind certainly will." Anna complained.   
"Yeah i-" fran started.  
Someone crashed onto the floor infront of them, as if they had dropped from the fly. the person had short grey hair, and was facing away from them.   
"Dominic...?" Anna whispered, slowly approaching the still tribute.   
Fran looked up at the cliffface. The side of the mountain was a steep slope, and she could vaguely see the people atop the edge.   
"Dominic...?" Anna repeated.   
"Mmph..." he moaned, rolling onto his back, "I think I'm okay,"   
"Just some bruises, I'll guess," Anna remained crouched on the floor.   
"What happened?" Fran asked.  
"Reuben is dead. They were going to kill me so I jumped," Dominic panted, slowly sitting up.  
"Who?"   
"Guess," Dominic groaned, "They slit his throat," his voice wavered, "I'm going to kill David if I ever get the chance,"   
"I would gladly partake in that," Fran nodded.   
"It would be three against five," Anna sighed, "we could do with more allies,"   
"Quinn could be handy, and Olive. I would suggest Avis but she killed atlas," Dominic agreed.  
"We should try getting to the top of the mountain, that way we could get a better view of the arena and hopefully find some allies," Fran said. The other two nodded.  
"Are you fit to walk?" Anna asked Dominic.  
He nodded, standing up slowly.   
Anna, Dominic and Fran walked for a few hours, discussing topics such as other tributes and their lives at home. On over two occasions they had to balance on a thin path over a deep gap in the mountain.   
"Jesus christ, another one?" Doninic moaned as they approached a third gap in the mountain with only a thin sliver of rock go walk across.   
Anna, who was walking first, balanced on the strip of rock, tentatively stepping forward and over the gap. When close enough, battling against gravity and the harsh wind, she jumped over the gal and found herself on the other side.  
Dominic decided he would crawl over - he had been limping this far and this was the safest bet. He dragged himself across the beam, gripping the stone hard to avoid getting thrown off by the wind.   
Fran stepped onto the path, quickly walking to the centre of the bea,, before the wind started to increase.   
"The wind is too strong!" She yelled at Anna.  
"Come on, you can make it" Anna responded.   
"Its too risky!"   
"You can do it!"   
Reluctantly, Fran began walking towards Anna, wobbling due to the wind.   
The wind increased. Fran lost her balance and toppled.   
"No!" Anna screamed.  
Fran fell down the gap, colliding with the floor in the darkness below.   
"There was no canon," Anna reassured herself as dominic held her from peering too far over the edge.   
Fran grunted. She pulled herself up and looked upward. The whiteness of the sky contrasted with the silhouette of Anna's head peeking over the side. Fran stood the best she could, she thought her arm was broken.   
"Look who decided to drop in," A voice laughed faintly in the shadows.  
"I cant see her, can you see her?" Anna asked dominic frantically, peering into the darkness.   
Fran whipped around, facing the direction of the voice.   
"I dont know who you are, but hear me out," Fran prayed that this would work, " We need to band together against the careers. Anna, dominic and I are looking for allies against them. If we dont, they will dominate the arena and kill everyone. if we-"  
"What do we do after all our enemies are dead? You will turn on us and kill us all." The voice replied.   
"We dont have to, we could try and survive, not kill eachother and -"   
"I dont care about your little gang you have against the careers, I'm not looking out for you, I'm looking out for my own survival." A shape darted from the shadows, she thrusted a knife at Fran, but with her eyes adjusting, she could avoid it.   
"Fine then. just let me go-" The figure darted forward again and embedded her knife into her stomach.   
Fran gasped, falling to the floor. Her eyes adjusted and she saw Avis standing over her.   
"I'm sorry. We could have been friends in another life,"   
A canon went off. 

"Finally ," Quinn pants. Her and Sasha sit just under the tip of the mountain.   
They lie back, next to eachother, using the tip as a windbreak. The artificial stars of the arena sky glistened as the music began to play.   
Fran is projected into the sky. "Oh fuck," Quinn scoffs, "I totally thought she would win,"  
"Me too, she was great,"   
"Well we did have that fight that caused my injury," Quinn sighed, sitting back again.   
The next face was Reuben.   
"So atlas and Reuben and Fran are all dead. Who will the public root for now?" Sasha joked.  
"Definitely not us," Quinn replied, her eyes slowly shutting and the music finishing.


	6. Day 6

Sashas eyes fluttered open slowly, "fuck," She shivers, looking around her discovering that she is waist deep in snow.   
"Quinn," She coughs, Quinn sat up and looked around, their legs were covered completely by snow.  
"We- It fucking snowed are you kidding," Quinn grunted.  
Sasha stood, cautiously. She looked down the slope they had climbed the day previous and sighed, shakily, "We arent going to be able to get down, it's too slippy," Sasha sighed.  
"Great, we are going to have to stay warm then," Quinn pulled her bags from the snow and began to pull out a blanket.   
"That's our day planned," Sasha slumped back down.

Alex zipped up his sleeping bag, he twisted it so that it was thin and tied it round his waist.   
"We should make it down the mountain," Ben said, hopeful, they had found an area near their cavern which was just flat, with a small shelter from the snow against the mountain side.   
"We could try, the flood might be frozen over," Alex noted.  
Alex and Ben talked about their dreams, packing away their belongings for their journey down the mountain. The wind blew harshly through their tiny cave, and light snow fell onto the clearing outside.   
"Look," Alex whispered. Ben turned to where Alex was looking - embedded in the snow in the middle of the stone clearing was a spear.   
Ben slowly approached it, "Wait Ben dont," Alex whispered.   
Ben continued, slowly getting closer to the spear. As he reaches out for the spear he hears a collection of thuds behind him. Ben whips around.   
Brad, blossom, Aubrey cass and David are stood, facing Ben with their weapons drawn.   
"Hi," Ben splutters, unable to tell if they know Alex was behind them. The five were stood in the opening of the cave, and there were about two meter on each side for Alex to escape if he could. Next to the cave the mountain reached an edge, and Ben didnt want to know how far down it went.   
"Hi," Brad waved, condescending, "You alone?"   
Ben nodded, slowly.  
"Dont try reaching for the spear behind you," Aubrey said, "You know it's not going to stop us from killing you,"  
Ben froze.   
Alex darted out from the small gap between Aubrey and the edge of the mountain. Ben crouched and grabbed the spear, throwing it to Alex.   
Aubrey also sprinted from her position next to David and jumped to Alex. Alex toppled to the side and rolled close to the edge. He turned around and grabbed the spear that had fallen to the ground. Aubrey got closer again leading Alex to grab a handful of snow and throw it in her face. Aubrey spat and stopped, clearing the snow from her face. Alex grabbed the spear with both hands and drove it into Aubreys leg. "Aah!!" Aubrey growled, falling to her knees. She whipped her head around and looked at her teammates, "why are you standing there? Kill them!"   
Alex back up but when his hands slipped off the surface and pulled himself back onto stable ground. Ben looked at the careers, who were starting to approach and looked at the injured Aubrey. He charged forward and kicked her shoulder. She dropped her axe and slumped off of the side of the mountain.   
Cass catches up to Ben and tackles him to the ground. Alex stumbles up and runs to the other side of the clearing, clutching his spear. Brad storms towards him.   
Cass, now atop of Ben, pulled out her knife and put it to his throat.   
"Please," Ben grunted, "Dont,"  
"I'm here to win, by any means necessary," Cass reached up with another knife, ready to strike. Before she gets the chance, a hand clutching a thick rock hits her in the head. Cassie slumps to the floor, unconscious and rolling off of the edge. A canon goes off.   
Behind her, Anna and dominic stand, Anna clutching a rock. "You okay, Ben?" Anna asked. he nodeded, speechless.   
Alex pointed the spear at Brad, thrusting it towards him as he slowly approached.   
"Back off," Alex grunts.  
"Its a shame, Alex," Brad shrugs, "You're exactly my type. If youd returned my favour for you I would have let you join the careers,"  
Alex shrugged, "I'd respectfully decline, i cant say i enjoy killing kids,"   
Brad shrugged in response, "Guess I'll fuck you up in a different way then," Brad charged forward, but was intercepted before he got the chance. Dominic tackled Brad to the floor.   
Blossom looked over at Ben, he looked back, with alot more confidence than that first day.   
Blossom nodded and turned around, climbing back up the wall her and the careers bad just descended from.   
"Where are you going?" David shouted after her.   
Dominic got ontop of Brad, punching him in the face numerous times. Brad grunts, shoving dominic to the side. Alex ran forward and raised his spear, to strike. Brad dodged the blow, jumping ul and facing Alex. Dominic stumbled up and got to Alex, "Leave him alone," He growled.  
Anna checked if Ben was okay, who was nodding, "I'm fine, we need to help Dominic," he insisted. They began to walk forward but David stepped in their way.   
"Not so fast."  
Behind them, Aubrey climbed back onto the platform.  
Anna turned around, swiping Cassies knife from the ground. Aubrey lurched forward, swinging her fist at Anna. Anna ducked around her fist and raised her knife. She brought it down and through aubreys skull. Blood gushed out from the top of her head and she sank into the abyss behind her. a canon went off. Ben slowly backed away from David. He walked into Anna, who turned around. "Cmon, Ben hes like twelve," Anna stormed forward but David did the same - the two collided and Anna swung around. She dropped David from her arms and he fell, slipping on the ice and tumbling to the ground. "You bitch, I'm going to kill you," David grumbled as he got to his feet.   
"Dont you need your parents permission for that?" Anna asked, pushing forward and knocking David over the edge. A canon went off.   
"You're alone, Brad. 4 against 1," Dominic announced.   
Brad looked around and saw his last ally missing.   
"That bitch," He grumbled.   
Brad whipped around and climbed up the mountain wall, swiftly.   
Anna wiped the blood off of her hands onto her trousers. "Who's ready for a nap around a fire?" 

Olive slides a few feet, then steadies herself. She repeats the process again, and then stops.   
The snow flurried around her, and she was unable to see more than a few feet infront of her, which was why she was travelling down the mountain in tiny chunks.   
She heard footsteps nearby. Maybe it was the storm, but she knew better than to let her guard down and armed herself with a sword and shield. Frantically looking around, olive spotted a silhouette in the distance.   
She leaped through the snow, thrashing her sword down towards the tribute. The girl whipped around, dodging out of the way of olives blow and returning the favour with a sword of her own.   
Olive pushed herself down the slope I'm order to dodge the sword. The snow framed the girls face giving Olive the time to identify her opponent, Avis.   
Avis grunted and attacked olive again. olive swung her shield up and blocked the sword, creating a clanging noise which echoed down the mountainside. Using her free hand, olive swung her sword at Avis, who threw olive off by picking her in the leg. olive fell to her knee and Avis struck her again, kicking her in the stomach. Olive tumbled backwards and started the roll down the mountain, skidding on the ice.  
Olive looked back up to spring into action.   
Avis was gone. 

The music began to play. Anna, Ben, dominic and Alex sat against the mountain wall, having cleared all The snow and blood from the clearing and spending most the day catching up and eating through their resources. They looked up and observed the days dead. Aubrey is shown first. "Congratulations to Anna for stabbing her in the head," Alex announced. David's face was next. "Congratulations to Anna for pushing him off of a cliff," Ben said, cheerily. Cass was next. "Cong-" Ben began.  
"Yes, I killed her too. Could this be classed a massacre?" Anna sighed as the music stopped.   
"It was us or them," Dominic shrugged.   
"It could still be us, though. Brad and Blossom are still out there," Alex said.  
Ben shook his head, "I think I'm on good terms with Blossom. this is the second time shes spared me,"   
"David killed Reuben. He got what he deserved,"   
The group fell silent.   
"What happened?" Alex asked, quietly.   
"We had just lost Atlas. The careers came and David slit reubens throat. They tried getting to me but I jumped off of the mountain," His voice wobbled, "Can we not kill eachother?"  
"Sure," Anna nodded, "I promise not to kill you,"

"I'm going to fucking slaughter them," Brad growled, "That bitch Anna. I'm going to tear her apart,"  
"Were you trying to flirt with Alex while you killed him?" Blossom asked.  
"And Dominic. and the whole rest of them. I'm going to kill them all,"  
"It seemed like you were trying to flirt with Alex,"  
"I dont know how but I'll get all of them."  
"Would you fuck Alex on national television?"   
Brad whipped around from his pacing and pulled out a knife. he strided towards Blossom, but she had already loaded and aimed her crossbow at Brad, "Fucking try it."  
"Do it. kill me. We arent going to win anyway. Not like this,"   
"I think you overestimate that teams abilites," Blossom didnt move, "We can kill eachother after we kill everyone else. until then, we have to work together, got it?"   
Brad sat down. "Whatever," Brad laid back, "Sleep well." He said, ominously.   
Blossom cocked an eyebrow and sat up against a rock.


	7. Day 7 and 8

Olives eyes shot open. the rumbling of the ground must have just started, because there was no way she would have slept through it. She leaped from her sleeping book inside a curved rock and grabbed her belongings. The earthquake continued, clusters of rocks began to fall around her and she knew she had to get off of the mountain now. Luckily, olive wasnt that far from the bottom, but the flood was still there, so she had no real idea how she would get past it.   
That didnt matter now. Olive sprinted down the mountain, tripping but regaining balance, and covering ground quickly.   
A deafening cracking noise filled the air, causing Olive to stop in her tracks. She pauses, looking around to see where the cracking could come from. The air around her fills with dust, and olive begins to splutter, continuing her sprint.   
As she continued to run blindly through the dust, Olive stumbled to a halt, realising she had almost ran off of the edge of the mountain.   
She got to her knees, feeling around the ledge, and discovered it felt new. The sound of running water arrived at olives ears and the dust cleared. olive was at the edge of a giant crack in the mountain, in which the flood was gushing in to. 

Sasha and Quinn ran down the mountain, side by side. every so often they would separate due to a large rock in front of then, but they would do their best to regroup.   
Quinn jumped over a tiny crack in the mountainside. Another rumble game, shaking the ground and Sasha and Quinn with it.   
Sasha tripped over a rock, unable to keep her balance, tumbling forward and rolling a few feet down the hill.   
"Sasha wa-" Another huge cracking noise filled the arena.   
The ground between Sasha and Quinn split, opening up an abyss below and erupting a tiny dust cloud.   
Quinn lost her balance, and began to fall into the crack. She whipped around and grabbed onto the edge of the crevice. Sasha got up from place om the floor she had fallen to. The crack was about 10 metres wide, and had separated the two completely. "I cant reach you!" Sasha yelled.  
Quinn grunted as she pulled herself up, back onto the ledge.   
"Its okay," Quinn said quietly, "We are going to have to separate. if we meet again I wont kill you,"  
Sasha stuttered, "I thought we were allies till the end?" She shouted back, trying to sound confident.   
"There cant be two Victors," Quinn replied.   
"I guess there cant." Sasha said, her facial expression hardening.   
Sasha turned around, not saying another word and evacuating the mountain. 

Much like many of the other Victors, Avis sprinted down the steep rocky slopes when the second earthquake struck. She slowed down when it first happened but decided it was best to keep going.   
Something over took her. She whipped her head around and saw a colossal boulder rolling down the hill next to her. Avis slowed down and turned around. Several dozen other large rocks followed.   
Avis ducked as a smaller rock shot towards her, and tucked underneath and a small ledge.   
Giant boulders shot over her head, crashing onto the ground infront of her. Below her, large amounts of the trees were being smashed into by the rocks. 

Dominic, Ben, Anna and Alex were walking down the mountain, attempting to stable themselves by holding onto eachothers hands. "Two earthquakes and it's not even midday," Alex grunted, "God this sucks,"  
"Did you hear the cracking noise earlier? I think the mountain split open," Dominic observed.  
"That would also suck," Alex groaned, quieter.   
"What's the move now?" Ben asked.   
"I think we should get back to the cornucopia, hopefully encounter Brad and Blossom along the way," Anna announced, "The mountain could-" She trailed off, another rumble filled the air. this time it wasnt an earthquake.   
"Is that-" Alex began to ask, looking behind him.   
"A rock slide? Yes." Ben confirmed. the large rocks tumbled down the slope they had walked down, and wasnt going to stop any time soon.   
The group let go of eachothers hands, starting to run down the mountain.   
A small peak of the mountain divided their paths, Ben and Dominic ran one way and Alex and Anna ran the other.   
When both pairs got past the small peak, they discovered the source of the cracking noise. The group found themselves split in two by the wide crack in the mountain. Alex slowed down, looking over at Ben and Dominic with remorse - they wouldnt pair up again any time soon.   
Anna grabbed Alexs sleeve and pulled him into a sprint again, narrowly avoiding a large rock which fell into the crevice.   
Dominic continued to run, looking only at Ben infront of him. Ben suddenly dropped, and so did Dominic - they had fallen off of a small edge on the mountain. Dominic collided with the floor, winding him temporarily. Ben dragged him under the ledge as a hoard of boulders shot over their heads.   
Anna and Alex had not been that lucky.   
Dominic looked over and saw dozens of boulders of all shapes and sizes resting where Anna and Alex had been running.   
"Fuck," Ben panted, his voice wavering.   
"There was no canon," Dominic observed,   
The crack separating them was about twenty meters wide, enough so that a shout could be heard.   
"Are you okay?" Dominic yelled.  
"Just because they arent dead doesnt mean they arent seriously injured," Ben said.   
One of the smaller boulders on the edge of the crack fell into the abyss, revealing Anna, safely sat underneath a rock above two others. "I'm okay..!" Anna began, "Alex is trapped,"   
Alex's legs had been completely crushed by one of the boulders from the rock fall. Alex screamed deafeningly in anguish. "My legs!!" He cried out.   
"They're completely squashed..." Anna explained, quietly.   
"Can you remove the rock?" Dominic asked.   
Anna shook her head. "Even if I could, the rest of the boulder would only crush us," Anna went quiet, "we are stranded,"   
Through Alex's screams of pain, another rumble could be heard.   
"Anna!" Dominic shouted.   
"Alex!" Ben screamed. The mountain shook, the crack widened and the cracking rock created a cloud of dust, smothering Alex and Anna.   
Through the commotion, Alex's cries of intense pain stopped. And two canons went off.

"I'm not sure this is how physics work," Blossom put a hand on her hip. Brad and Blossom stared down at the forest, the water completely gone.   
"Who cares, we can get off this goddamn mountain," Brad growled bluntly.  
Blossom rolled her eyes, "Why are you so pissed that they're dead? It's not like we liked eachother,"   
Two canons went off.   
"They would help us win!" Brad shouted.  
Blossom cocked an eyebrow.   
"Well there isn't much we can do about it now, is there?" She continued her embankment down the mountain. 

Dominic and Ben laid next to eachother in their sleeping bags on the moist forest floor.   
Alex's face is projected into the sky.   
"I didnt know him well, but alex seemed like he really cared about you," Dominic said, Ben remained silent. "He would want you to win the games," Dominic continued.   
Anna's face was shown now.   
"Anna helped me. she didnt have to but she did," Dominic said quietly.   
Ben laid in silence.   
The music stopped. neither of them slept that night. 

A rumble of thunder and a sharp crack of lightning woke Sasha from her slumber in the branch of a tree, on the tree line next to the mountain.   
"Guh!" She exclaimed, looking ahead and seeing trh betwee infront of her splitting upon and erupting into flames. "What the fuck now?" She groaned, slipping off of the branch and onto the forest floor.   
Another crack of thunder and lightning struck the tree between her and the mountain. She needed to get back up the mountain if she was going to survive. not too far up, she didnt want to be a beacon for danger, but as far up as she needed. 

"What was that?" Dominic panted, sitting up and looking around, frantically.   
Ben was already up, packing his stuff into a bag. "Thunder. I saw lightning strike the forest, too,"  
"That seems too dangerous," Dominic stood up, evident bags under his eyes.  
"Oh honey," A voice said from behind them, blossom stood, crossbow armed, slightly slouched, " That's nothing compared to us,"   
Dominic and Ben froze, staring at Blossom with the armed crossbow.   
"Wheres your friend?" Dominic asked, not wanting to find out the answer.   
Ben slowly turned around, searching between the trees while Dominic kept his eyes on Blossom, when he turned, Brad was stood behind them, a few feet away, and armed with an axe.   
The two pairs stood frozen for what seemed like eternity.   
"Our friends are dead because of you," Brad growled.   
"So is atlas!" Dominic responded.   
"You killed three of my allies," Brad hissed.   
"They deserved it, they were murderers," He replied, "Some of the people in here are good people. And innocent,"  
"You think that matters here?" Blossom responded, "I think you better start running."  
They didnt need to be told twice. Ben and Dominic dashed into the forest, shortly followed by Blossom and Brad. They weaved in and out of trees, hopping over bushes and roots, crossbow bolts flying past them. An arrow spared through the air and embedded itself in Dominic's shoulder. He cried out in pain and fell forward, down a steep bank. He landed on his back at the bottom, the bolt protruding from his shoulder, blood gushing out. Ben skidded down the bank and knelt beside Dominic.   
Another bolt shot through the forest and into Dominic's leg, he screamed and clutched the injured limb. "Come on, dominic let's go," Ben urged, his voice cracking.   
Dominic shook his head, "You know I cant. Go. Now," He pleaded.   
"Dominic please-"  
"Run, Ben!" He cried.   
Ben reluctantly obeyed.   
Blossom and Brad got to Dominic. they stood over him looking down. "Pathetic attempt at escaping," Brad laughed, "As punishment for the murder of our friends, your death is going to be slow and painful,"  
Dominic sobbed quietly, "Please," He pleaded, "just leave me alone,"  
"We are going to give every inch of you agony. and-" Brad began.  
A crossbow bolt shot through Dominic's head, through the eyes, killing him instantly. A canon went off.   
Brad slowly turned to Blossom, "Are you fucking kidding me?!" He roared.   
"He was innocent, Brad," Blossom sighed, "If you're going to kill people, dont be a dick about it,"

Lightning struck and scorched the forest floor. Avis stumbled when attempting to stop - the lightning had caused a fire which was spreading quicker than Avis would have liked. "Shit," She panted. Avis tried to overtake the fire by sprinting around it, weaving herself in between trees.   
The fire crackled loudly behind her, smoke filling the air. Avis out her hand across her mouth and began to run from the fire. Spluttering, Avis stopped at a thin tree, holding herself against it, assuming she was far enough away from the fire. Thunder clapped once more and a flash of lightning burst the tree into flames.   
The explosion shot Avis a few feet, throwing her to the ground. She screamed, her face now badly burnt on one side. She swore, getting up and struggling to run from the wreckage. 

Olive finally got to the foot of the mountain, the floor evolving from grass to rock. She sat on the rock, distancing herself enough from the forest. She watched the sky as dark swirling clouds produced lethal flashes that shot into the tree line.   
There was a scuffle behind her. Autonomously, Olive whipped around, producing her sword and shield. Quinn was stood behind her, brandishing her dual edged sword. "Hey."   
"Hey," Quinn replied.   
"Its too late to make friends, isn't it?" Olive asked, almost irritated.   
Quinn slowly nodded.   
"So be it," Olive darted up the ramp, swinging her sword violently at Quinn. Quinn shoved her staff in the air, deflecting the blow. Quinn spun around, swinging her weapon at olive, who shoved it away with her shield. Quinn tried again, jabbing low, Olive used her sword to stop the blow, and the two struggled in equilibrium.   
Olive grunted and pushed outward with her shield. the opponents sepersted from one another, Quinn falling backwards onto the floor. Olive growled as she seung down, raising her sword high. Quinn ducked under the sword and pushed upwards with her weapon, towards olives unprotected stomach  
Olive gasped, blood trickling onto quinns hands. Olives feet were lifted from the floor, only being kept up by the sword through her stomach. Quinn dropped her and olive tumbled down the mountain, lying lifeless at the bottom. Another thunder clap. or maybe it was a canon. 

Ben sat in a cave, hopefully safe from the lightning. It was night time, so the next day should be different. and worse.   
Olives face was projected onto the sky. Then Dominic's. Ben began to cry again, as Dominic's kind face fizzled away.   
Ben couldnt help but think of Anna, Alex, dominic and everyone else who had been lost. Ben didnt sleep much that night.


	8. Day 9 - The Feast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My shortest chapter

A voice boomed through the arena, waking the tributes.   
There will be a feast held at the cornucopia. All of you need something. Burn ointment, food, bandages. You will find them here.   
Ben sat up and looked around, sighing. He needed food, but he could easily pick berries if needed. He decided to ignore the announcement cement and spend the day looking for food in the artificial woodland around him. 

"We need them water purifiers, Blossom," brad growled, climbing up the steep bank to the cornucopia, "we have ran out of water,"  
"But what if the other tributes have banded together or something. We are going to die," Blossom argued.   
Brad didnt respond. They reached the clearing which held the cornucopia. in front of it, a table stood with six bags spaced equally on it.   
"Go. I'll wait here," Brad commanded, "While you're there, grab the other bags,"  
Blossom scowled and looked at Brad, but obeyed regardless.   
She ran into the middle, slipping on some of the rain from the day before, but regaining balance quickly. She reached the middle, steadying herself on the table and nabbing the bag with her district number on it.   
As a last minute thought, she grabbed Brad's. She didnt bother stealing the other bags.   
She set off to leave, spying another girl entering the clearing. Quinn.   
Quinn shot I to the middle, , ignoring blossom who was on her way out. She got to the horn and snatched the bag holding her ointment. She set her weapon on the table and checked the bags contents. Before she could, she was tackled to the floor.   
Quinn pushes the tribute off and jumps up. Avis did the same.the left side of her face was badly burnt and blatantly unattended to.  
They stopped and stared at eachother.   
"Girl, you good?" Quinn asked. Avis didnt respond, thrusting forward and punching Quinn in the cheek. Quinn stumbles, her foot sinking into the soaked mud. She yanked it out and blocked a blow from Avis. Avis kicked Quinn In the shin and punched her in the stomach. Avis shoved Quinn, who fell against the table, knocking it onto the floor along with its contents. Quinn coughed, spluttering violently as Avis approached. She raised her knife.   
Sasha swung quinns abandoned staff, knocking avis in the head. Avis fell to the floor, turning around and looking up at Sasha. She had dropped her knife.   
Quinn grabbed the knife from the puddle it had fallen into and jabbed Avis, violently, in the chest.   
Avis flopped back, lying in the mud.   
After a few moments, a canon set off.   
Quinn and Sasha looked at eachother.   
"I'm glad you're okay," Quinn panted, "Thank you for saving me,"   
"If we team back up I know you'll kill me," Sasha said, plainly.   
"Eventually yes, " Quinn hardened her gaze.   
Sasha nodded. She picked her bag up from the floor and turned to leave. Quinn grabbed her own bag and departed in the opposite direction.


	9. Day 10 and 11 - Final chapter

Sasha hopped down from the tree she slept in. She made the journey from her tree to the cornucopia and decided to stay there.  
She sat outside the giant horn, resting on the table she had picked back up and eating the food she had gotten from her bag.  
A bird call echoed in the clearing.  
Sasha paused, "That doesnt sound like a regular bird-" She muttered.  
She squinted against the bright sky and looked up. Over a dozen birds circled the clearing above her.  
"Huh," She grunted. Hopping of the table, she went I to the cornucopia filled with mostly empty boxes, and fetched a metal bat.  
Sasha stepped back outside and looked up. the circling birds began to descend onto her, spiralling one after another, shooting at a high speed towards Sasha.  
"Mutts," Sasha growled. The first mutated bird was almost upon her - She swung the bat as hard as she could and the bird was shot to the ground. She repeated this process for each bird, but they soon recovered.  
They swarmed around her until all she could see were masses of dark blue feathers.  
She managed to back up into the cornucopia, and the swarm of birds dissipated.  
Panting and exhausted, sasha built a wall out of hollow boxes to stop anything from getting inside the cornucopia. 

Something collided with quinns side, pushing her off of the branch she was sleeping on.  
She hit the floor and woke up instantly, spluttering as she whipped her head around to see what had hit her.  
Quinn looks up and sees a bird perched where she had been sat. "You little shit," She huffed, standing up.  
Her weapon remained lodged in a neighbouring branch to where she was sleeping.  
She put her hands on her hips and the bird tilted its head. "What type of bird are you?" She whispered, staring into the deep black eyes of the bird.  
It opened its mouth and cawed, and Quinn noticed the layers of jagged teeth inside of its beak.  
"You're a mutt-" She whipped around and dozen mutts were weaving in and out the trees , directly towards Quinn.  
Quinn dashed in the opposite direction- she knew that the lake was nearby and that the waterfall wasnt far off there.  
She swooped down, picking up a thick but manageable branch, while running.  
Quinn dived into the lake, thrashing her way further into the water.  
Tentatively, she turned around to see where the birds were. Dozens of the mutts were sitting on the trees closest to the lake.  
She panted, her eyes darting back and forth, noticing the waterfall nearby and how the Forrest next to the lake abruptly ended at a cliff edge. She was trapped.  
Her breathing slowed and she calmly swam towards the shore. She knew if she got out of the water thr birds would attack. She kept her grip on the branch and looked around. In the rock beside her, she noticed a camera, zooming in and out.  
Quinn looked between the birds and the camera and sighed.  
She looked into the camera.  
"Fuck the Capitol. Fuck everything they've done to the districts and to Panems children," Quinn scowled, "Fuck these fucking games,"  
Quinn ran up the bank of the lake, yelling as the birds surrounded her. She seung her branch, knocking a few out of the air.  
Their bites and slashes were dug deep. She walked backwards, screaming as she hit the birds away the best she could - and toppled off of the edge. 

Blossom and Brad snuck into a cave, the entrance of which was small, but the inside was pretty average.  
Brad had a large scratch across is cheek, and blossoms sleeve was cut open.  
"Them fucking birds," blossom panted.  
A canon went off.  
"I suggest we spend the night here," Brad dropped his bags and sat on the floor.  
Blossom paused, she held a hand up for Brad to stop talking, and she listened for a second.  
"Someone else is here," She whispered.  
Brad cautiously got up and began walking toward the bend at the end of the cave.  
He reached and grabbed someone out of the darkness.  
"Who is it?" Blossom asked as Brad dragged the scuffling tribute into the centre of the cave.  
He dropped the tribute onto the floor and he looked up - Ben.  
"Please dont kill me," Ben pleaded.  
"We shouldn't kill him." Blossom admitted.  
"What?" Brad spat.  
"Hes nice. Hes a good person."  
"So?"  
"So we shouldn't kill him,"  
"Doninic was a good person, you shot him in the head with a crossbow,"  
Blossom paused, "You were gonna torture him,"  
Brad stopped and grabbed Ben, who was trying to escape while they were distracted.  
"Not so fast," Brad lifted him up with his arms wrapped around his head, and snapped Ben's neck.  
A canon sounded.  
"Brad! Fuck!" Blossom shouted.  
"Give me one good reason why I shouldnt fucking kill you right now!" He roared.  
"You heard that canon shot earlier- theres one tribute left. If its Sasha, you dont need me, she can be killed. But Quinn? If shes still alive you wont stand a chance against her alone. You need me. We wait until nightfall, if Quinn is alive, we hunt her down together,"  
"And if sasha is alive?"  
"One of us dies,"

The fire brad and Blossom had built in the middle of their small clearing crackled. The birds had gone, as it was probably past midnight.  
They stared up at the sky in complete silence, anxiously waiting to see who died.  
Brad clutched a spear tightly, slightly losing grip because of the sweatiness of his hands.  
The music started. The familiar and haunting tune of the commemoration music boomed through the arena.  
Brad stared into the sky, his heart racing.  
Quinns face appeared projected into the sky.  
Brad whipped around, jabbing his spear out violently - to noone.  
Blossom had escaped.  
"You little bitch," He screamed.

Sasha removed one of the boxes inn her makeshift fortress and looked to the sky - Quinn. Her heart sank and she sighed.  
About an hour later she was still gazing to the night sky.  
"Sasha!" someone yelled.  
Sasha immediatly replaced the box and began piling up others behind it.  
"Sasha!" The person repeated, closer.  
She looked around, searching for a weapon. Her eyes fell on a bow and arrow placed neatly on a weapons rack on the wall.  
Blossom pulled out one of the boxes. "Sasha please, we cant fight Brad separately!"  
"You killed Quinn!" Sasha cried, pulling the bow into position and aiming it towards the box wall.  
"No- I didnt, I swear," Blossom yelled in response, removing another box.  
"Even if I help you, what's to stop you from killing me afterwards? We cant both win!"  
"We could wait it out, refuse to kill eachother or something," Blossom removed another box, they were empty and light, but Sasha had built herself in. there were dozens of boxes left from the beginning of the games.  
"No," Sasha growled.  
"Guess I'll kill you then," Blossom pulled out a box, and saw sasha aiming an arrow at her.  
Sasha let the arrow fly and it soared through the air, embedding itself in Blossoms eye.  
She screamed and fell back, outside of sashas visual field from the hole Blossom had made.  
There was silence.  
She crawled through the hole Blossom had created and stood over Blossom, who was lying face first on the ground.  
Sasha heard footsteps behind her and before she knew it, she had been lifted up and thrown into the boxes.  
Her wall collapsed and she rolled onto the floor of the cornucopia, dropping her weapon.  
She jumped up, Brad standing where the wall used to be. Sasha climbed over the boxes, gripping an arrow from the floor. She jumped towards Brad, bringing the arrow down towards his head. He intercepted her, throwing her outside and onto the ground.  
She turned to get up and he kicked her in the stomach. "I had to drop my spear. But maybe itll be more fun to beat you to death-" Said spear burst from his neck, showering sasha with blood. He gargled for a second, before collapsing onto the floor accompanied with the sound of a canon.  
Blossom stood over him, now holding a crossbow. The spear remained in Brad's neck, who was surrounded by a red patch of mud.  
Sasha arrow remained embedded in Blossoms eye.  
"You bitch!" Blossom growled. She raised the crossbow, aiming it at Sasha.  
Sasha kicked Blossom in the leg, knocking blossom back a few feet.  
She got up, yanking the spear from Brad neck and charging towards blossom.  
Blossom dodged the spear blow and swung the crossbow at sashas head.  
Sasha fell to the floor, her vision dizzying. "We could have killed him together!" Blossom shouted.  
Sasha turned around, looking up at Blossom. She raised her leg and kicked her in the stomach. blossom grunted as Sasha scrambled up, dizzy.  
Sasha threw a punch, hitting blossom in the face, sending her to the floor and dropping her crossbow. Sasha scooped up the crossbow and aimed it at Blossom. Blossom looked up at sasha, blood running down her face like a tears. Sasha looked down at Sasha, pulling the trigger and sending a bolt into Blossoms other eye.  
Blossoms body went limp and a canon went off.  
Sasha looked around, the blood from her head wound running down her dirty face, mixing with her tears and the mud from the ground. 

Ladies and gentlemen may I present to you, the winner of the 57th hunger games, Sasha Rosenberg from district 11.


End file.
